Gate of the Seven Dragons
by NPP6
Summary: An interdimensional war escalates, and the battle over a superweapon leads to the unraveling of 7 realities. Now the survivors of the unwritten realities gather around 7 groups of heroes. The 7 Dragons of the old worlds will face new enemies, but with new allies by their side, they just might be able to win the battle for the continued existence of their new home. Please review.
1. Prologue: Contact

_**It is an established fact that none of the authors on this site own any of the franchises that they draw their characters from. Why should I be any exception?**_

**Author's Note:**

**Just to get some things out of the way before I get started, this is a seven-way **_**continuation**_** story. Therefore I will be avoiding breaking Canon events as much as possible. I will also be doing everything I can to avoid contradictions. This has various implications, the foremost of which is that characters and their relationships will be true to what their creators made them, with one exception that was too good to pass up (and I'm pretty sure that Rumiko Takahashi and Shoji Gatoh would approve anyway, so I'm sure you can all guess which character is actually going to be a part of multiple Universes). I won't be able to avoid all contradictions, i.e. Sakura having 53 Star Cards instead of thirteen. The sheer nature of the combined universes I'm using, where manga and anime have arbitrarily equal weight, is going to cause a few minor contradictions, but I have done this in the interest of avoiding larger ones and giving myself more flexibility with my timelines. Please note that this semi-arbitrary system applies to both events and details, for example the leader of the Mew Mews is named "Ichigo" (as in the Manga and original Japanese), while Sakura's last name is "Avalon" (as it is in the English Dub). Now that we've got my semi-arbitrary system for determining Canon out of the way, I'm going to give everyone a little heads up about parings: They are not necessarily the stereotypes. If canon has a pairing come together in a relationship, then they'll be together, otherwise, we're flying blind as far as romance is concerned.**

**Here is a list of Canon pairings that are going to appear at some point (most of them at the beginning) so that nobody gets after me for sticking to stereotypes:**

**Ranma/Akane – Married – Before anybody nails me with a "but the wedding bombed" I suggest that they go back and re-read the end of the Manga, specifically the last two pages (at least in the version I read, where I again plead to my aforementioned and established semi-arbitrary canon determination system) where it states, and I quote, "and so the wedding was postponed… **_**but only for a little while**_**." This indicates quite decisively that they did get married at some point in the near future following the end of the manga. All of this is on top of the fact that (at least in my interpretation (and this story)) he brought her back from the **_**dead**_** just by screaming her name (It will involve more than that on a technical level, but still…).**

**Usagi/Mamoru – Married – Let's face it, even if it weren't the final chapter, Naoko Takeuchi always intended for them to end up married, and between Chibiusa and the numerous times that they were shown sleeping in the same bed, it's fairly obvious that the only reason they waited was for an exit finale paralleling a fairy tale. Which reminds me…**

**Kagome/InuYasha – Married – Here I'm taking some license, but it's simpler than simply having them living together. Plus it gives me an excuse/chance to introduce an OC/Plot Point that will allow me to further diversify my characters.**

**Sango/Miroku – Married – They have kids people! While I have nothing against nontraditional families, it simply doesn't fit for those two to have one. It doesn't fit either of their characters, or the plot, or the time period. Plus this gives him an ****excuse**** reason to avoid going around and asking every girl he meets to bear his children to avoid Sango's ultimate wrath. Needless to say however that old habits die hard, and he does slip up when he's first exposed to girls who aren't ready for him and he doesn't know well. Guess which ones he asks. evil grin**

**Miharu/Yukinari – Engaged – And I quote, "Let's be together forever."**

**Sakura/Syaoran – Definitively Together – Again, I quote, "From now on we'll be together forever." I'm actually going to have him pop the question in either this chapter or the next one.**

**Kirie/Fukuyama – Dating – Her opinion of him decidedly improved after both the Wedding Rescue and the STAB fiasco. She gave him a chance, and he's kept his girl-chasing to a minimum.**

**Kaname/Sosuke – Unofficially Together – Basically where Ranma and Akane were for the majority of the manga, but without the added pressure of an engagement, and with terrorists driving them together instead of the Nerima Wrecking Crew driving them apart. Also no curse. Definitely a plus for their relationship.**

**Sesshomaru/Rin – Very much a father/daughter relationship. No formal adoption ceremony however, Rin does not become a Hanyou. Frankly having a demon for a stepfather wreaks enough havoc on her life already. Especially in the romance department. You think you/your girlfriend has an overprotective father… and the ones he doesn't scare away intentionally are of course repulsed by the very idea of having a relationship with someone who willingly associates with demons. This also gives me a plot point to use to get her into the modern era after the well starts working universally.**

**Chibiusa(or Rin, Souta, Shippo, Pudding, etc.)/Anyone – Sorry, but no. Maybe very late in the story or in a potential sequel, but for now they're just too young for anything serious.**

**Kasumi/Tofu – We'll See. **

**Weber/Mao – No.**

**And with all of that out of the way, let's see where this leads. I present to you:**

* * *

_Gate of the Seven Dragons_

Contact.

An interesting word, a meeting between two or more… somethings. The young man looked at his father. There was no biological relationship of course, but nonetheless this was the paternal figure in his life. The man who had raised him, trained him, taught him everything that he really needed to know about life. And then of course he had to look back at the enemies that were surrounding them.

He had lost count of the number of realities that they had dodged through trying to escape, only to end up here, in a version of Earth where all life had suddenly ceased to exist, a result of a combination of a Nuclear Blast and a failed Time Lock.

They were in Tokyo, actually the center of the city. It was a strange feeling to be the only living things in a lifeless husk of a city that still looked as if it might have been abandoned yesterday. Well, the only living things except for the murderous army trying to kill them. The boy sighed, somehow it _always_ seemed to come back to the murderous army trying to kill them.

But it couldn't be helped, and they couldn't afford to let the key fall into enemy hands. "So, how do we get out of _this_ one?"

The older man looked around and sighed. "We don't, even if we manage to get make another jump we're still surrounded, and we can't let them into equilibrium."

"So, then…"

"We can't let them have the Key to Reality, they'd be able to move between realities at will, everything would fall. We've got one option left."

"The Brat Contingency?"

"The Brat Contingency."

"If we can't have it nobody can, right? Alright, I'll initiate the circles." Five circular designs began to radiate outward, ice forming where the circle of Cold radiated, light failing to penetrate the designs of the circle of Darkness, Lightning and Fire overlapping on the ground as they spread, almost reaching the enemies, and the dust motes that seemed frozen in time the only thing revealing the circle of air.

A mocking voice rang through the square, "What's this, a final stand? How cliché." The horde parted, revealing a man whom the boy bending the laws of reality had hoped never to see again. "I honestly expected better of you. You're so well known for your annoying originality and brilliant tactics, I might be proud if you were on the right side son."

"Do I know you? Oh that's right, you're the Sperm Donor who gave me half of my genes, I believe I already told you how I feel about that, now I'm a bit busy with people who are actually important, so if you could get this pitiful attempt at an affectionate guilt trip over with, I do have a life to get back to."

The man almost growled at the reminder of the Scar under his right eye that would take centuries to fade, but that was fine, that was a testament to his offspring's skill. No, what really hurt was being reminded of the other wound that the infernal boy had inflicted on him, the one that would never heal. And then to add insult to injury the boy had actually had the gall to mail them back to him as a birthday present, wrappings, card, note, and all, of course, before he sent them back he had had one steeped in ZeroLife and the other in InfiniteEnd, and then he had had them bronzed and mounted on a trophy plaque. "Just give me the key boy and I might not write you out of existence with it."

"Oh, you mean this key?" The boy held it up for all to see, and then threw it… straight up, into the center of his breaker circles. But that made no sense, unless…

"NO! He's going to destroy the key! Stop him!"

"You can't stop him; he's too deep into the paradox now, just as we planned. The key will be unmade and its energy collected and re-forged into a new key, the Key to Chaos Zero. With it we'll be able to force open the gates of Equilibrium and bring every reality under the flag of Kayous." The Eunuch jumped, he still didn't know how it was that that woman was able to sneak up on him. She was still the only person he knew who had the ability to consistently make cold shivers run down his spine. "In other words we win."

The man in the center of the circle made his presence known, "Forgetting someone?"

"NO!" the woman shrieked, "You were supposed to kill him first you fools!"

"But you already said that the boy is in too deep for the paradox to be stopped, what can he do?"

"He can't stop the paradox, but he can change it! Stop him you fools!"

The man stepped in front of the boy, "You can't stop it now, the paradox won't let anything in, not even you have that much power." The circles suddenly began to be overwritten, and now several more circles appeared, driving things to an even deeper paradox as the boy felt the pull of the key that he had guarded for so long leave him, taken up by his father, who gave him a small, sad smile as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "Goodbye."

The boy, unfortunately, understood too late, and even as he tried to stop him, his father activated the final power of the Reality Key. Somehow, impossibly, in a voice that spoke in every language ever conceived the words rang out, "Open, Nana Doragonzu no Mon."

Contact.

* * *

Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo were fighting again. What was fairly new was that they weren't fighting each other. In fact, they were fighting back to back, attempting to change her name to Akane Saotome. It was the rest of Nerima that couldn't seem to cooperate.

Ryoga, Mousse, and the rest of the Tendos and Saotomes were all off to one side simply watching the proceedings. It had taken almost three years and an insane amount of danger due to a certain Phoenix King, but Ranma and Akane had finally managed to admit that they liked each other. After the first wetting had quite literally bombed, they had managed to force the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew into an agreement. If Ranma and Akane finally managed to get married, then that was it and everybody would stop chasing them. Somehow they had even managed to get Kuno to swear upon his family honor blade (with most of the school as witnesses) that he would stop chasing his "beloved pigtailed girl" as part of the bargain. Nabiki suspected that they had threatened to elope.

Cologne and Miss Hinako were currently trying to remove Happosai from the equation, which they were managing to an extent, although the rampant explosions and energy attacks still had Akari, Sayuri, Hiroshi, Daisuke, Yuka, and Katsunishiki hiding behind a fairly large barricade of discarded and broken furniture.

Konatsu was off in the corner attending to Ukyo's wounds, her Gunpowder Okonomiyaki hadn't reacted well to a stray Happo Fire Burst. On the flip side the resultant bang had also taken out Kodachi and Tsubasa who were now tied up in the closet with the Ghost Cat's bell and Pantyhose Taro, who had decided to try and show up early.

Principal Kuno was currently passed out from a simultaneous mallet, bonborri, bokken, and takabisha convergence when he tried to cut the hair of the various martial artists who were still going at it at the altar, and Natsume and Kurumi were currently trying to get over to the people behind the barricade and get them out of the massive warzone that the dojo had turned into. Tofu was trying to keep the evacuation organized and somehow managing not to look at Kasumi. Betty had been buried under a pile of rubble. Sasuke was, in a rare show of personal decisiveness and self-preservation, clinging to the ceiling and waiting for everything to blow over. The Priest had long since escaped via the exit tunnel built into the platform where the engaged couple were supposed to be getting married. Fortunately the guests were used to this by now and just about everyone had already gotten out (this was of course the sixth attempted wedding in as many months). Gosunkugi course had been knocked out when Akane had knocked one of Shampoo's maces away, and currently had a sheet covering him, while Kogane (who had received special permission to come to the world of the living for her friends' wedding) was sliding him over to the observers, trying to make sure that he didn't get too hurt.

Kuno's bokken had split lengthwise and he was currently trying to use the two halves in a double bladed style against Ranma, (trying being the operative word) while Akane was going mallet to mace with Shampoo and holding her own very well. Then an explosion rang out louder than any that had so far interrupted the wedding proceedings, cueing the occupants of the dojo to look to the open door and see…

Nothing.

A massive wave, a wall of nothing, it could only be described as a black light or a white darkness. As it swept toward the dojo, something triggered, as those who had been cursed at Jusenkyo, Akane, and Miss Hinako suddenly had a light flow from their bodies, forming a barrier around the dojo that Ryu Kumon and Miss Midori barely managed to get a group of kindergarteners inside of in time. Then the wave of destruction reached the barrier and the last thing any of the occupants of the dojo knew no more.

Contact.

* * *

It was a peaceful day in Tomoeda, Sakura and her friends were out on a picnic, celebrating the fact that they had all managed to make it into the same high school. Suddenly the magic users all froze and turned to look in the same direction, Syaoran not even noticing as the Frisbee hit him in the head. Then they saw it, a wave of destruction coming directly at them, without even bothering to speak, as Madison, Ms. McKenzie, Yukito, Toya, and Meilin subtly positioned themselves so that the relative civilians were both surrounded and forced behind Sakura and Syaoran.

Realizing the imminent danger left her with no alternatives, Sakura threw caution, secrecy, and discretion to the wind and pulled the key from around her neck and released her staff, simultaneously pulling a box out of her jacket pocket and slapping it into place on her belt she opened it up. With no time to search for the correct card, she instead brought her entire 53-card deck out and shouted, "Shield Card! Heed your Mistress' call, unleash the barrier and protect us all! Shield Card!"

As Sakura's deck flew into the air, the Shield Card indeed sought out the end of her staff, lighting up as the spell was cast. Then the expected unexpected happened, and the other cards began to fall into formation as Sakura's magic circle expanded to encompass her friends and family as her other cards, beginning with Hope and Time began to activate as well, one at a time until all of them were lit. Then the wave of destruction washed over and past them, and there was a blast of magical energy as the spirits of the cards formed a single unified barrier to protect their mistress and those important to her. Those present caught a brief glimpse of a vortex of magical energy drawing in them and seven other balls of light, one actually comprised of two orbs and another of three, and one with so many various pieces that it could barely be called a ball any more, along with one that was significantly smaller than the others and seemed to be trailing behind one of the larger ones, almost like it was orbiting it when they got pulled in by the vortex. Then there was an explosion and they knew no more.

Contact.

* * *

The group of people and demons surrounding the Bone-Eater's Well might have been a reunion party for the Anti-Naraku Coalition or a recreation of their last battle if not for the addition of four individuals under four feet tall. Even Totosai and Myoga had managed to make it. It was a particularly joyous occasion, Kagome and Inuyasha were going back to the other world for a visit, it was only fair, considering that they had been here for nine months, and Kagome's family was probably worried about her. Then they heard it, an explosion from the village.

As they turned, drawing weapons almost as one, they saw the explosion expanding, racing towards them. Rin suddenly found herself holding an infant with three swords planted in the ground around her. Then a light emerged from the well, surrounding the group as the wave washed past them.

In the other world, the Higurashi family was at their family shrine, anxiously watching for any sign of the missing girl. When a light began to come from the wellhouse, they rushed to see who was coming through, only to find, to their surprise that the only thing coming from the well was a strange light. This light spread out to surround the shrine, encompassing everything. Then there was an explosion in the distance, the Higurashi family saw the explosion wash over the barrier surrounding their home, and then they knew no more.

Contact.

* * *

It was an ordinary day at Café Mew Mew. Or at least it would have been ordinary if it weren't for the fact that an eight-year-old may have just blown their cover. Fortunately they weren't open yet, so they didn't really have any customers, and the six Mew Mews and their support crew were able to take her into one of the back rooms to try to talk her out of the idea that she had found the actual Mew Mews. It wasn't going very well.

For some reason it took until Masaya got there 45 minutes later for them to realize that the best idea might just be for them to let her in on the secret but tell her how important keeping their identities a secret was. It was at this point that Ringo and Mashio arrived.

They had been planning on using the DNA gun to make it so that Ringo could activate her Mew Mew form without needing to use her Mew Aqua. Unfortunately upon finding out that it was definitely possible to _become_ a Mew Mew, the girl, who identified herself as Raimu Sekkai, insisted that they make _her_ into a Mew Mew as well. Which led to Ryou launching into a highly overcomplicated lecture on exactly how hard it would be to pull off and how unlikely it was that she would turn out to be a suitable match for any of the red data animals. That is until his own computer cut him off with a beep, saying that it had found a match for her, which he responded to by calling the computer a traitor and shooting it a murderous look.

The computer was quick to point out how long it would take for the DNA injection to be ready.

This was the point at which Ringo's Mew Aqua began to light up, and the girls suddenly found themselves in their Mew Mew forms. Rushing to the roof to see what was going on, they saw a massive sphere embedded in the Earth rapidly growing, destroying everything in its path. Ichigo and Berry fired off their combined attack, and then Ichigo tried hitting it with Strawberry Bell Bell Version Up. Neither was effective.

The Mew Aqua flew into the air and shattered, the contents forming a barrier around the Mew Mews and the café. The destruction washed over the barrier, and at that point the occupants of the café lost consciousness and knew no more.

Contact.

* * *

The Sailors were throwing a party. Not that they were the Sailors at the moment, what with their various families present. But it was still a party nonetheless.

Usagi and Mamoru were back from their honeymoon and the whole group was together for the first time since the wedding. They were all gathered in the Outers' house, the only regret any of them had was Hotaru's wishing that Chibiusa was there so that she could have someone of her own relative maturity and apparent physical age to talk with.

Suddenly Setsuna froze. The party almost instantly ground to a halt as Rei's crows flew in through a window and the occupants of Elysion crashed in through the front door.

"Something is very wrong with spacetime." Setsuna's whisper carried clearly through the gathering that had quickly ceased to be a party. Rei turned to the fireplace to try and get a reading from the blaze that had been warming the living room of the Western-style house. The fire went out. Michiru attempted to see the future in her mirror. The sound of the Deep Aqua Mirror shattering seemed to be a signal to the Sailors, and they quickly exited the house and took up formation, even Luna and Artemis seeming to sense how serious the situation was and quickly coming down the stairs and taking up positions with the girls.

Then they saw it. A wave that only one of their number was able to identify as being almost the same as the combination of creative and chaos energy she had once seen in the Galaxy Cauldron. It wasn't quite the same, but it was close enough to make her forgo all attempts at discretion and in full view of everyone activate her powers, instantly shifting through Sailor Moon and into Serenity. Her Silver Crystal quickly forming a barrier around her friends and their families, a barrier which said friends and her husband were quick to strengthen by transforming and joining their power with hers. The annihilation wave passed the barrier and the Sailors and their families found themselves looking into a massive Galaxy Cauldron. They were being pulled in, along with several other balls of light, inside of which they could just make out various figures. Then Serenities power gave out, the barrier of the silver crystal flickered and faded and another barrier of light enveloped them. And they knew no more.

Contact.

* * *

Kaname Chidori was _pissed_. "You flew a helicopter in, smashed open my classroom window, dragged out me _and my best friend_, flew us out into the middle of the ocean, drugged her because she was going into hysterics, airdropped us to the _Danaan_, and when she finally wakes up you tell us, 'Sorry, false alarm, turns out that the bomb threat was not only not real, but your school wasn't even the one in question. Oh, and we have to erase her memory now that she knows about us.' How exactly do you _expect_ me to react?"

Despite none of them being present in person the entire group seated around the table flinched. Well almost all of them, Captain Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa was perfectly content to sit back and let her read Mithril's commanding officers a riot act that she herself had wanted to give them many times. To some, the utter lack of response or emotion on the Captain's part was almost as terrifying as the idea of what the Chidori girl might currently be doing to them if they were there in person. Then she broke her silence at a pause in the girls lecture and that fact changed, now they were all terrified of what both girls might do to them if they ever attempted to go through with the plan that they had been discussing. "I agree. We have been careless, and we will have to reap the consequences of that carelessness. Besides I doubt we can make everybody involved forget that Miss Chidori and her friend were airlifted in the middle of fifth period."

"Unfortunately this leaves us in the undesirable position of –" the Klaxon alarms cut her off.

The man on the Captain's left began to rub his temples. "I'm sorry gentlemen, but it seems we need to cut this meeting short, we appear to be under attack, and the ECS cannot activate while we are broadcasting communications like this. We will have to continue this at a later date." He reached over and hit a button, causing all of the holograms to simultaneously be replaced with a sign reading "Disconnected."

An old man on the far side of the table stood up, "Lousy timing that, now Miss Chidori will have to show them the true meaning of terror all over again when they suggest this same plan the next time around. Ah well, at least it'll be a rerun worth watching."

The group was making their way to the bridge when Kaname and Tessa suddenly stopped.

"Te-Tessa, are you hearing this too?"

"Ye-Yes, you?"

"Uh-Huh."

The girls looked at each other, their eyes meeting for one second. And then they both said in unison, "Go," so quietly that the others almost couldn't hear them. Then they both, still synchronized, jumped backwards and bolted in opposite directions. What the others couldn't hear were the words that were traveling in both directions telepathically along a deep mental link, "Be Safe."

The next thing anybody knew, Kaname Chidori was in a dead sprint straight to Lady Chapel, clearing access almost instantly, while Tessa Testarossa was shouting orders over the PA system while in her own dead heat sprint to the bridge, "Initiate Emergency Blow. Sergeant Sagara report to the Arbalest for immediate launch. You are not to leave the deck of the ship however, unless ordered to come back in. All other Mithril Personnel report to emergency stations. Kaname Chidori is to be given Priority Clearance and Command. This is a Situation Order Zero, Classification; Whispered Scream. That is all I have to say expect for this, if this doesn't work out the way we want it to… it has truly been the greatest pleasure and honor of my life to serve as your Captain, I want all of you to know that."

As the _TDD-1_ surfaced a unique aircraft came crashing down next to where the Arbalest was emerging from the bowels of the sub. Leonard Testarossa stepped out of the flaming wreckage and radioed in, not even bothering to encrypt his channel, "I have only one question. Did you guys hear it too?"

From the bridge Captain Teletha Testarossa answered, but with the PA still open the entire ship heard her and felt a chill, almost as if she were passing sentence on the fate of the world, one word echoed through the now abandoned halls of the ship. "Yes."

It was Kurz Weber who finally broke the silence that followed, coincidentally as Kaname Chidori was synchronizing with Dana deep in Lady Chapel. "Captain, what exactly is it that you three heard?"

It was Kaname who answered, her written answer appearing on screens across the ship somehow more chilling even than Tessa's had been, "Nothing. We heard nothing. Suddenly there was a scream. And then, all at once, silence. The whispers stopped. The voices are gone. Something is very wrong."

And then they saw it, a wave, a wall, rushing towards them. The Lambda Driver on the Arbalest automatically activated for Sousuke, even as Kaname activade the experimental one that had been retrofitted into the systems of the _TDD-1_. One fired a single shot directly into the crashing destruction, while the other simply put up a shield, using all of her willpower, and that of the girl she was connected to to protect the ship and those aboard. The shot disrupted the wave, causing it to ripple, and then it was upon them, crashing over the sip, washing over the shield.

On the bridge, they could see that the ship was safe, but seemed to be unable to extend their sensors beyond a few dozen meters. Then Tessa's eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed, at the same time as her brother, Sousuke, and Kaname all lost consciousness. As her bridge crew rushed to help their captain a massive explosion rocked the ship as the Experimental Lambda Driver overloaded, and then the barrier broke, a light enveloped the _Tuatha De Danaan_, and her crew knew no more.

Contact.

* * *

Yukinari and Co. were all together, and rather excited. It was the first time everybody had been present in one place since the battle at the Space-Time Administration Bureau, and a few of them hadn't even been at that. But now, even their friends from Seiren had come to help them cross to the other side, up to and including Yukina and Maharu and her husband.

It was a rather momentous occasion, because they were making this particular portal to Seiren permanent, so that anyone could travel freely between the backyard of Yukinari's house and the home that Miharu had grown up in with her sister. The two houses were going to be the official contact points for members of either world who needed help in the other for one reason or another, or just wanted to get a message back home. Or at least that had been the original plan.

Then there was the explosion. As the massive wave of destruction washed towards them, they did the only thing they could think of. Miharu, Koyomi, Risa, and Yukina stepped in front of everybody and activated their powers, throwing up a barrier against the onslaught of doom.

It wasn't enough. The barrier gave out and the group was flung back and into the gate. Just before she lost consciousness Yukina sealed off the gateway to Seiren with them inside of it, completely cutting the group off. Unfortunately she lost control at the edge on consciousness and sealed off both ends of the gate. Then a light washed over her and her companions, and she finally gave in, slipping into a dreamless sleep with her friends, and they knew no more.

Contact.

* * *

The young man was in a state bordering on shock. He had known that the key he was protecting was valuable, powerful, and dangerous in the wrong hands – or even the right ones – but this was unbelievable!

He stood alone, in a void. The reality he had been in had been ripped apart at the seams and completely unwritten. He was openly gaping at what he had just seen happen.

Not the utter destruction of a reality, he had seen that plenty of times before – even caused it once, in a moment he was not particularly proud of but doubted that he would ever find it in himself to regret. No what had shocked him was what exactly opening the Gate of the Seven Dragons had done. He had just seen seven separate realities clone themselves and then watched the cast off clones ripped apart at the seams, broken down to their basic components, and then rewoven into a single fabric, one reality that now bound up all of the energy of the Key of Reality.

One unstable reality that now bound up all of that energy…

He sighed, there was nothing he could do, the reality was fundamentally unstable and would eventually self-destruct without intervention, but there was nothing he could do. He had to preserve the integrity of the various realities. When this reality died, the power of the Key would simply cease to exist. There would be no energy release from being unmade, no power vacuum that could be filled. It would simply be over.

But…

He was sworn to protect Reality. _All_ realities. To most of his comrades that meant protecting the larger whole. But he had always been different, as had his father. He had taken his vow to mean that he was to protect each reality _individually_, and despite the nature of its creation, this was a reality. But how…there. seven satellites, pieces of the seven realities that had broken off…no, the very cores of the seven realities that had just been merged. He smiled, even if he had believed that there were such a thing as coincidence in these things this would have been a stretch. With the seven cores he could anchor this reality to them, stabilize it, save it. The people inside of the various satellites would retain their original memories, which could be problematic, but he should be able to reach them in time to explain everything and unlock their alternate memories. And so he brought his hands up and focused on the seven… dragons. Ah, so that was where the name came from. He chuckled, his father always did have something of a sense of humor. With two words he brought the seven dragons who had formed the seven cores of the seven realities to bear on the new world, and inserted them in the same position that they had been in in their old worlds. "Paradox Breaker!"

And then he himself entered this new world that had presented itself, that he was now bound to protect. He shed the majority of his powers, taking up abilities appropriate to the world in which he now found himself, and then he stepped out into the street and smiled, uttering one word before he began his quest to find the seven cores and explain the situation to them, a word ironically enough that seemed to sum up this entire situation.

"Contact."


	2. Damage Control

_Damage Control_

They were in trouble. Yukina knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to break it to the others just how much trouble they were truly in.

They had been sealed inside of the gate to Seiren, and they couldn't leave through either end. They needed to open a new exit for the gate, but in neither world could they find a water source with enough sheer magical energy to do so… well, Yukina could sense _one_, but it was far away, and for some reason she didn't quite trust it.

Ordinarily they could just sit around and wait for the next person to open a portal between the two worlds, but now… with both ends sealed off like they were, they would have to wait for somebody to open a portal between the exact same points on Earth and Seiren, and that wasn't likely to happen very soon. Besides, they had no way of knowing what was going on in either of the outside worlds, for all they knew everybody who would be looking for them either thought they were dead or had passed on themselves. They couldn't count on any outside help. They would have to get out of this mess them–

Wait. There, she sensed something. Looking closer, she was able to confirm it, a water source with enough magical energy to act as a gateway. Yukina had absolutely no idea how a koi pond could possibly become infused with that much magical energy, but she decided they could figure that our later, once they were out of the limbo they were trapped in.

She opened the portal.

* * *

Tessa was in pain. She hadn't felt _this_ bad since the morning after the incident when Sargent Mao had gotten her drunk. She really hoped that she hadn't had a repeat of _that_ event…

Deciding that she didn't know enough about her present situation, she began her mental checklist. She was still wearing all of her clothing, which was always a good sign. Bright lights, white room, smell of disinfectant and other chemicals, only one IV in her left arm, so it probably wasn't a lab, which meant… infirmary. Well, at least she hadn't been captured. Wait, intravenous therapy meant… she had collapsed. Why had she collapsed?

Her memories came back to her in a rush and she bolted upright. Looking around she noticed that her brother was in a similar situation to hers, save for the fact that he had yet to regain consciousness. There was another bed that had obviously once held somebody, but had since been vacated. Forcefully if the unconscious doctor slumped in the chair next to it was anything to go by. Then she noticed the other aware occupant of the room.

Kyoko was sitting in the chair next to her bed, looking at her with an expression that Tessa wasn't used to seeing on her face: worry.

"Kyoko, what are you doing here?"

"Funny story, we're in the middle of fifth period when this helicopter shows up at the classroom window out of nowhere and drags us back to said nowhere, which turns out to be a submarine in the middle of the ocean. But then, since you're here I guess you already know all about that, right?"

Tessa winced at the pain and betrayal in her friend's voice. Or at least, she hoped Kyoko was still her friend after all this… "I meant what are you doing in the infirmary, since I highly doubt that at the moment you're particularly worried about my physical wellbeing…"

"The infirmary was, and I quote, 'deemed to be the safest and least classified place on the ship, especially for a civilian who would otherwise pose a danger to the crewmen who would have to protect her.'"

This time Tessa almost swore. "Let me guess, one of the top brass?"

"Well, he certainly had a lot of stuff on his uniform."

Something occurred to Tessa. "Kyoko, where's Kaname? We were linked when I passed out from the mental exertion, she should have fainted too, why isn't she here? Why aren't you with her?" Then something happened that truly shocked Tessa.

Kyoko Tokiwa burst into tears.

"I don't know where she is, they won't tell me anything, they told Sosuke something about some kind of church, and some duchess or something and he got really upset, knocked out the doctor and two guards when they tried to make him stay here. Then he told _me_ not to leave the room and he disappeared, and nobody will tell me anything, and I have no idea what's going on, and I'm scared, and I don't know where Kaname is, and, and, and –" she couldn't get any more out through her sobbing.

Tessa meanwhile had gone pale. Kaname was trapped in Lady Chapel, trapped and probably unconscious too. She moved to the side of the bed and tried to stand up. She sat back down rather quickly. It was no use, in her current state she would never make it to Lady Chapel on her own, and none of her crew was going to let her leave. Wait… none of her _crew_ would let her out of the infirmary, but maybe a friend would. Looking over at her emotionally distraught companion Tessa steeled herself for what she was going to have to do. And then she did something that would have flat-out floored anybody who knew her.

She slapped the crying girl. Hard. And then she hit her again for good measure.

"Are you done feeling sorry for yourself yet? Good, because right now I – no – _Kaname_ needs your help." It was at this point that Tessa handed the reins to Captain Teletha Testarossa. "From what you've told me, Miss Chidori is currently unconscious and trapped in Lady Chapel, the relative heart and brain of this ship. If that is the case then the rest of the crew will be unable to reach her in time. I am the only person on this ship capable of overriding operations and opening that door from the outside while she's in there. My crew will not be of any help, as with five notable exceptions they will value my wellbeing over hers. In my current state I _might_ be able to stay on my feet long enough to get out the door if I'm lucky. Therefore I'm going to need your help getting to Lady Chapel to help her."

One hundred and twenty-five seconds later a chloroformed guard was occupying the bed that Tessa had just vacated. Two girls, one almost completely supporting the other, were walking down a long hallway, dragging an IV stand behind them. The hard fire in their eyes would have been enough to make any member of the crew flinch if they had happened to come across any.

These girls refused to be stopped.

* * *

Usagi opened her eyes to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. She slowly sat up, noticing that Mamoru was lying beside her, and decided that if they were together than there probably wasn't any danger. She quickly amended that theory when she saw Setsuna standing in the doorway. This was all but confirmed when she heard what the guardian of time had to say.

"We thought you might be the first one to wake up, come on, Hotaru's downstairs making breakfast." Usagi perked up at the thought of food, but this almost immediately changed when her memories of the previous night came flooding back to her. Setsuna noticed the look on her princess' face and threw a wry smirk. "Yeah, there are gonna be a _lot_ of explanations needed. Also… don't tell the others just yet, but something happened last night besides all of us getting knocked out. Something changed drastically. Hotaru and I can both feel it, time and the cycle of death and rebirth, they're both very different this morning from what they were yesterday. It's almost as if their very _natures_ changed on us suddenly."

Usagi suddenly remembered something she had noticed the night before. "That doesn't really surprise me, that energy last night… the last time I saw that kind of energy was in the Galaxy Cauldron. Combine that with what you and Hotaru are sensing… the only thing I can think of is that something or some_one_ decided to screw with our lives just a little bit more and rewrote the universe to do so."

Setsuna actually paled at this. "Definitely don't tell the others yet."

Usagi nodded, "at least not until we actually know what's going on here." She sighed. "I'm not looking forward to all of the explanations facing us… let's get something to eat, then we'll have to see what we can tell the adults."

* * *

The Mew Mews and their support team were all seated around a table in the main room of the café. They were waiting for something, someone to explain what exactly had just happened to them.

They had woken up on the roof, eight of them transformed, Ryou was thankfully able to turn back, but they weren't sure about how close of a call it might have been. Once they were sure that everyone was alright they had noticed something very wrong.

The Tokyo skyline that they were used to seeing from the café had completely changed.

They had all rushed down to the lab, hoping to use the computer to figure out how exactly the café had moved. When they got there, they were shocked to find that the café hadn't moved at all. The expectable panic was just beginning to set in when the computer dinged. A message had arrived for them. The fact that nobody should know how to reach them really didn't matter at this point; things were weird enough that disbelief was in a state of total suspension. The message hadn't said much, but they latched onto it as a sign that _somebody_ had answers. Even Ryou was pinning all hope on the sender of the short communication.

"Stay there. Stay safe. I will be there soon. I will explain everything. Don't leave the café."

And so, they were sitting around a table in the empty café, when a young man walked in through the front door, looking around as if doing a head count.

He almost sighed with relief, "Good, you're all here."

Ryou raised an eyebrow at the boy, "So is it safe to assume that you're the one who contacted us?"

"Yes, I sent you the message, I came to you first because I figured you lot would be in the most danger of doing something regrettable."

Ryou stood up, "so then, since you seem to be the only person who seems to know what's going on, can you please tell me in exact detail how my café wound up _in the middle of a forest_?"

The boy flinched, this was not going to go over well. "You'd better sit down, this is gonna take a while…"

* * *

Kagome sat up and looked around. She did a quick check of herself to make sure that she was in stable physical condition and had no parasitic or malicious magic attached to her and then asked the first thing that came to her mind, "Where's–" She was cut off by the subject of the very question she had been about to ask being forcefully put in her arms.

After Kagome had been calmed down and the initial rush of emotions at the last member of their party finally waking up was over, the facts were finally ascertained.

The barrier _had_ come from the well, everybody was unharmed, Kagome had been out for three days, and now that she was awake she and Inuyasha should probably head home to check up on her family (He didn't leave her side once after he woke up).

And so, once again, the party made their way up to the Bone-Eater's Well. This time however, there was no explosion, and Kagome and Inuyasha managed to make it through to the other side of the well with their various bundles.

The Higurashi household was silent, a soft tension that can only be created by worry and fear without a real cause permeated the house, nobody had mentioned Kagome since they had all fainted three days ago, but they were all thinking the same things, the barrier had come from the well, if the magical energy was effecting the present, what could have happened to Kagome? None of them had been really hurt, or even out for more than a few minutes – except for Grandpa who was out for several hours – but Kagome was far more sensitive to magic than they were, and she had probably actually been where the spell was cast.

Such was the setting around the kitchen table at breakfast when a soft knock came from the door to the hall, interrupting the musings of the rooms occupants, who all turned to see the subject of said interrupted musings standing there, leaning against the doorway smiling at them, arms across her chest, yellow bag at her feet, dirt coating her face and joy incarnate for the family seated around the table.

"Hi."

"Where have you be–" Grandpa cut himself off as he actually took in his granddaughter. "Oh. Well that explains things. I suppose I had better get out the cleansing charms then, I think we shou–"

This time it was Kagome who cut him off. "_HOW DARE YOU! You will do no such thing_! If you so much as _twitch_ for your charms, so help me I'll, I'll, I'll seal your powers and trap you in the Sengoku jidai!"

Grandpa froze, making a mental note to completely avoid that particular conversational territory _completely_ in future. He sat back down with a dull thud.

Then Kagome's expression changed back to her pleasant smile, and she took a seat at the open side of the table. "Sorry we've been gone so long, but we were in the past when we found out, and we didn't want to take any unnecessary risks by coming back."

Souta was confused, his sister had never reacted to their grandfather's attempts to cleanse her boyfriend _this_ drastically before, she was protective, but never _over_protective, that job belonged to Inuyasha. He couldn't remember her ever raising her voice in anger against any member of her family before either. Something about her had definitely changed in the past nine mon… wait a second.

Nine months. No risk taking. Overprotective behavior. Extreme emotions never noted before, not to mention the rapid changes thereof. Souta grinned as it clicked into place for him. Then he started laughing, "Haha, congratulations Sis, I'm really happy for you, when do we get to meet it? For that matter, which way did it go?"

His sister turned her smile to him, "Inuyasha's outside right now, I thought it best if I come in alone first and prepare mom."

Souta nodded sagely, "Yep, that was definitely a good call, springing it on her would have put her in the hospital for sure."

Their mother interrupted at this point, "I have no idea what you two could possibly be talking about, but frankly Kagome I completely fail to see any way that the feudal era could possibly have been safer than coming here! And I would appreciate it if the two of you would stop talking about me as if I weren't here. For that matter, I would like to know just what secret the three of you seem to be in on. I'm sure that boy must have gotten you into some kind of trouble again, you just sit there, I'll go get the first aid kit and–" She was cut off as her son grabbed her shoulder and forced her back down into her seat.

"Mom, the danger wasn't here _or_ in the Sengoku jidai, the risk was in her _traveling_ through the well."

She almost knocked Souta over she stood up so fast, "WHAT! If the well is dangerous Kagome, then you'll just have to stay here and–" She was cut off again, this time by Kagome's upraised hand covering her mouth as she closed in on her daughter.

"Mom, the well isn't dangerous, if it ever was then it was only for those nine months, and it was never a threat to _me_ directly anyway."

"Kagome, I'm getting awfully tired of you beating around the bush like this, I haven't seen my daughter for nine months, I would like _some_ kind of explanation as to what that boy got you caught up in _this_ time."

"Mom I really think you ought to sit down for this…"

"No Souta, I will not sit down, I have supported your sister through this whole thing, and then she disappears for nine months without a word, although apparently everybody _but_ me knows what's going on, I want an explanation!"

Kagome winced. She _knew_ that she should have sent Inuyasha through the well to let her family know. "To be fair Mom, Souta and Grandpa weren't told anything either, they only figured it out just now."

Her mother seemed to deflate. "Oh. I apologize for overreacting then, but still, _nine months_ Kagome, what could possibly…take…that…long. Kagome?"

Kagome sighed, she might as well get this over with, there was no _way_ that her mother was going to let her break this to her slowly. She walked over, opened the outside door, and hollered, "Inuyasha, come on in! It's time."

The Hanyou came in, unsure of what kind of a reception he would receive, in his arms a small bundle that drew the attention of everyone in the room. Then the bundle drew Inuyasha's attention as well as it made a small sound indicating that it had woken up. Kagome walked over to her husband and relieved him of his burden. She then turned to her mother and said with a smile that contained untold pride and joy, "Mama, this is Ran, your granddaughter."

Souta caught his mother halfway down, gently moving her so that she was sitting in one of the chairs in a dead faint. "Yep, coming in alone first was definitely a good call."

"That actually did go over better than I was expecting." Any further conversation was cut off as Ran began to cry. "Oh dear, Souta, could you please wake Mom up? I need to feed Ran, and I think Grandpa wants to have a bit of a talk with Inuyasha…"

As his sister went into the other room to take care of his niece and his grandfather dragged his brother-in-law outside for a conversation that he had no doubt was similar to one he himself would be having with the Hanyou later, Souta walked over to the cupboard and started searching for his mother's smelling salts, smiling for the first time in weeks.

* * *

Sakura Avalon's eyes opened, only to be greeted by a very familiar sight, the back of one of her cards. Of course this was the first time that she had woken up in the middle of a field with one of them trying to be a blindfold, but she wasn't really sure why that would seem new.

Then she actually woke up.

The Mistress of the Cards looked around wildly, and, seeing that the others were still unconscious, she quickly started gathering up her cards.

Syaoran woke up to the familiar sound of Sakura panicking, he sat up and looked over at her running around, trying to put her cards back into a single deck. His laughter drew her attention.

"Syaoran, stop laughing and help me, if the others find out about the cards then–"

"Sakura, can I ask you a question?"

"…umm…sure…"

"Why don't you just call the cards?"

"Oh. Right. I didn't think of that," She said rather sheepishly. Then in a more commanding tone she held up her hand and cried, "Star Cards, heed your mistress' call, return to me now, one and all, Star Cards!"

There were fifty-four flashing arcs of light, and then Sakura was holding her full deck. Wait. "Syaoran… something's different with the cards…"

"What do you mean Sakura? How could the cards be different?"

Sakura started looking through the cards, just to make sure that they were all there. "I don't know but something just feels…off. Syaoran, come here, take a look at this."

"What is it?" he walked over to see her holding one of the Star Cards up, the rest of them in her other hand. He couldn't see anything wrong with the card. Then she turned it around so that he could see the face.

"Look" the card was indeed a Star Card, it had all of the things that Star Cards needed, he could even sense the ties to Sakura's magic and the other cards. He would have passed it as one of her magical cards any day of the week.

Except for he didn't recognize it.

He had been with Sakura almost since the beginning; he knew every card she had. This one wasn't one of them, it was completely new. Its illustration showed a winding dragon, coiling down across the card with its head near its nameplate. The card's name, strangely, was "The First" rather than anything even remotely draconic.

"Well, that's new."

"Syaoran, I'm scared. I didn't create this card, and it doesn't feel quite right, not like the others. It feels like The Nothing did, like it's…likes it's incomplete, only part of a card."

"Don't worry Sakura, we'll figure this out."

It was at this point that a glowing orb dropped out of the sky to float several feet in front of the couple. A voice came from it that neither of them recognized. "I will be there as soon as I can, please don't do anything rash, and whatever you do, _nobody_ go home." The light then popped like a bubble, leaving the young people staring into the empty air in a small field full of their unconscious friends.

One of the sparks from the popped bubble of light landed on a small box nestled in the grass.

"What's this?"

Sakura went to pick the box up, but Syaoran lunged and beat her to it.

"What is it Syaoran?" Her curiosity turned to confusion as his face went a deep shade of red.

"S-Sakura, you know what I said about us figuring this out?"

"Of course, what about it?"

"Well I-I was wondering if…"

"Wondering if?"

"Well I was wondering what you would think about figuring this out _together_."

"Of course Syaoran, we always do that stuff as a team"

"Umm, actually Sakura…"

"What is it?"

The young man took a deep breath, it was do or die at this point. Or both, depending on how things went. He tried not to think about that. "Let me say in advance that when I got this for you I had no idea that you were about to be thrown back into all of this chaos, or I never would have done something that would put more chaos into your life like this."

Okay, now she was definitely confused. Moreover she was definitely missing something here. "Syaoran?"

"Please Sakura, let me finish. This isn't how I figured this would go, and frankly I never thought I would be giving you this so soon, but I guess fate has its own plans for us." He brought the box back out from behind his back and clicked it open, smiling at her gasp when she saw what was inside and taking her hand as he sank down on one knee. "Sakura Avalon, will you marry me?"

The figure watching from the bushes could barely hear her "Yes" it was so quiet. She smiled, it had been a long time since she had seen Sakura stunned speechless.

Syaoran was barely able to get the ring on her finger before she tackled him, drawing him into a kiss full of all of the emotion she had felt since she first met him.

Their brief moment of euphoria was quickly interrupted however, as both of them blushed and turned towards the sound of applause. Meilin and Madison stood there clapping, Madison called out, "well it's about time." And then they noticed the camera by her feet and they both blushed even harder as they realized that she had been recording the whole thing.

* * *

The occupants of the Tendo Dojo slowly came to. Since almost everyone in there except the ghost and forgotten voodoo priest was a martial artist of the Nerima Wrecking Crew, this meant it took a whole five minutes for the majority of them to be back on their feet and ready to go.

Miss Midori was worried about her children, as they were still unconscious, but with every hospital in the area having been leveled at one point or another, and just about all local law enforcement mysteriously reassigned to other parts of Tokyo, her only real option was to impose on the Tendo family's hospitality and help Kasumi take care of the children.

As for the rest of them, they were slightly concerned with the fact that they had all been knocked unconscious at the same time, and nobody was quite sure about _what_ had happened to Ryoga, although Ranma managed to get himself hit for making a comment about how he must have "gotten lost on the way to the floor." Eventually however, they came to the conclusion that they would never be able to figure out what had happened sitting around in the dojo doing talking, and shrugging it off as the typical weirdness that surrounded them, they each went their own ways, completely forgetting about the occupants of a certain closet.

Fifteen minutes later Ukyo and Konatsu were standing on the Tendos' doorstep, having somehow misplaced their restaurant. Five minutes after that the amazons were back, opting to come over the back wall instead of knocking at the door, informing them that their café had disappeared in a similar manner. This earned them a space on the floor in the living room, while Konatsu and Ukyo were put up in bedrooms. Nabiki could have almost sworn she could see Kasumi give a very feline smile when she told the Chinese trio that she couldn't seem to find any more spare futons. She also knew for a fact that they had eight more sitting directly behind the trapdoor into the roof. If it had been anyone but Kasumi she would have sworn that she forgot about those ones on purpose.

With Genma and Nodoka having had to go home to look over the repairs to their house, and Ranma not in a very trusting mood with the other fiancées in the house, the sleeping schedule got rather scrambled, with Ranma sleeping on Akane's floor in his female form with the door locked, Ukyo in with Nabiki, with Mousse and Konatsu in Ranma's room, while Miss Midori was in the Dojo with her students.

At approximately three in the morning Happosai decided he had gotten himself in over his head when he found himself on the wrong end of a mace, a staff, a large spatula, a ball of confidence and a brand new mallet that actually managed to outsize anything Akane had ever used before. After Konatsu and Mousse put the old man in a full body cast that seemed to have more chains and explosives in it than bandages, they had hung him from the clothesline to much protestation, and were just heading back into the house when they felt a surge of magical energy behind them and turned to see the koi pond glowing.

And then it exploded.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again, it's me! Another chapter complete, although I'm sure that you all saw that bit at the end coming after the first scene. So how do you like it so far?**

**I'm going to try to develop all seven stories and casts as they interact with each other, rather than simply throwing everybody together in one big battle, and so yes, there will be more chapters where the stories don't do much actual crossing over. As for why I had the Girls Bravo cast show up at the Tendo Dojo, I've got two reasons, for one, it gave me a way to be clever by connecting the magic of Jusenkyo to water in a completely different way, as the idea is that the pond slowly assimilated to the magic due to the numerous dunkings by various characters, and the other is that Ranma is playing center stage in this world. In a purely geographical sense that is. I have this map of Tokyo with where I imagine each of the seven stories are located marked, and the Furinkan District in Nerima Ward happens to be at the approximate center of that configuration. There's also the fact that Ranma 1/2 is the only story where the entire _community_ actually gets involved in the weirdness, and so the others relocating there would be shrugged off more easily than anywhere else (With the possible exception of Juuban, but I'm not going to have the Sailors' parents take this very well.) Furinkan also has the distinction of being the only school district in Tokyo that will still take our heroes on as students _after_ their cover has been blown. I'm not planning on turning this into a school fic, but even with the conditions I set the story up with, I can only suspend disbelief and reality so far...**

**Anyway, please remember that none of this is set in stone yet, so feel free to let me know what you think, I'm always open to good suggestions. Please review and thank you for reading!**

**NPP6**


	3. Well, There Go All Our Secret Identities

_Well, there go all of our secret identities…_

Ryoga Hibiki was lost. Again.

Or at least, he thought he was. He couldn't quite tell, because there wasn't really anything around and he couldn't see, hear, smell, or even feel much of anything, so he assumed he must be lost, because he was used to strange things happening to him when he was. How he had managed to get lost without attempting to go anywhere was a problem he really didn't have an answer for, and so he simplified things in the only way he could.

"Curse you Ranma, I just know that this is all somehow _your_ fault!"

There, everything was now in its proper place and Ryoga could focus on getting himself un-lost.

* * *

The Tokyo Mew Mews were in shock. Of all the things they had been expecting to hear, this wasn't. Finally Ryou broke the silence.

"What did you just say?"

"This is not the world you woke up in this morning. This is an alternate reality that was created by a set of unavoidable and unfortunate circumstances. You, along with six other groups, have been thrust into an alternate Earth created by the forceful joining of your seven realities."

Ichigo spoke up, "So that flash of light knocked us into an alternate universe?"

"It's actually a lot more complicated than that, but yes, in essence and effect, that is what happened."

"Have we got any way back home?" This came from Masaya.

The boy explaining things grimaced. He hadn't wanted them to have to deal with this part so soon. "No, unfortunately not. Even if you did, I'm not sure you'd want to or could go through with it."

"Why not?"

He sighed, this _definitely_ wasn't going to go over well. "I explained that you are in an alternate reality, you can see this for yourself simply by looking outside and seeing Tokyo Central Wilderness Park, which most definitely wasn't there when you walked in the café. In this alternate reality there were versions of you."

Ryou paled, even as Berry piped up, "I don't get it, if there _are_ alternate versions of us here, then wouldn't that be another reason for us to get back home?"

"He didn't say 'are' Berry." Ryou was looking pained, and the mysterious boy nodded at him to show recognition of the fact that he had understood the connotations of their situation.

"What do you mean? He just said that there are alternate versions of us in this reality didn't he?" The others showed the same confusion on their faces that could be heard in Berry's voice.

The boy decided to let Ryou break the news to them. "Not _are_ Berry, _were_. Past tense." He looked at the boy across the table, "They're gone, aren't they?" he received another nod.

There was a stunned silence at this. After a few moments the visitor broke it.

"When you were thrown into this reality, your counterparts here were erased, removed from this existence in order to make room for you. They have been written out of reality and no longer exist except as shadows, all records of them are intact, memories, documents, everything, but they no longer exist. If you leave, then it would be as if they had simply vanished off the face of the Earth. Could you really do that? Make them disappear? Remove them from existence, leaving their friends and families forever wondering where they went?"

Now Mint made herself known, "And what about our own families? Won't we be putting them through all of that if we stay? Besides, we may be here, but we're not whoever we were in this reality, and the people who will notice the differences most are the families of the people we're going to be replacing."

"No, the seven realities were forced together, not changed, so you will be the same people as you were in this reality except for the memories of the altered events. The realities protected themselves even as they were forced into one, there will only be a minimum number of differences, although the future is pretty well trashed at this point. As for your families in the original reality…well, that's the other reason you can't go home. I'm sorry. This reality was formed by breaking down the seven to their most basic level and reconstructing them together as one cohesive whole. Even if I had a way to get you home, there is no longer a home to get you back to."

As this information sunk in, the girls all looked like they were about to burst into tears. The majority of the guys had grown up without their families, so the news didn't hit them quite so hard. Well, most of them anyway.

Ryou stood up and slammed his hands down on the table, surprising everyone in the room. "How can you possibly say that? Minimal difference? The Mew Mew Café is in the middle of a park the size of a district, one that didn't exist twelve hours ago. Without the café, I never could have run the Mew Mew project, so please explain to me just HOW EXACTLY this is a minimal difference!"

"Due to the events surrounding a freelance military organization, the Mew Mew Project was subsidized by the Japanese government. For the first year, they continued to control you, using you as superweapons. After the alien threat was repelled however, you Ryou managed to perform a massive sting operation, blowing much of the cover of the project, triggering a public reaction that all but _forced_ the Japanese government to let you go. Since then you and the Mew Mews have operated exactly as you did in the other world, with the only difference being your cover and HQ. There are fifteen secret doors in this park, all of which lead to a bunker buried a quarter mile down. That bunker is where you have been running operations out of since the beginning. There is one other thing you should know, a gamechanger that may affect how you decide to handle your families. Due to the involvement of the Japanese government, everything was run through semi-official channels, requiring protocol and paperwork. Because of this, although the rest of the world only knows you as Tokyo Mew Mew, you families are aware of your genetic modification, and in one case they volunteered you for it. To put it another way, your cover has been blown."

Raimu spoke up, her innocent curiosity finally getting the better of her, "How do you know all this?"

The boy's eyes darkened briefly, but then he smiled at the young girl. "I arrived in this reality three days ago. During that time I have managed to gain access to some political resources, and I was able to gain information on all seven groups who were transported here. Speaking of whom, I must be leaving now, I came here first because you were the ones in the most danger of making a mistake after finding yourself in an alternate reality with no knowledge of that fact. I still have six stops to make to warn the others."

Masaya smirked, "Are you saying that we're the least intelligent of the seven groups?"

"No, just one of the more reckless one, and the other three are on a submarine in the middle of the ocean, live in a constant state of suspended reality, and are in the Sengoku jidai, in that order. The first and third are going to be somewhat difficult for me to reach, so I'll have to do what I can, and the second is going to have to go last, or I'm never going to get them to swallow this one. To be perfectly honest, I thought that it would be a good deal harder to convince all of you, but I suspect that the forest helped." He smirked, "So then, if you'll excuse me, I have to be on my way."

The young man walked out the front door. As it closed behind him, Ryou suddenly stood up. "Wait a second, how did he know all of that about the seven realities thing? He's not telling us something!"

The various Mew Mews rushed outside, but the boy was already gone, the only thing they found was a note attached to a tree about four feet in front of the door.

"I'll be in touch, 0"

* * *

The water finished flying off in all directions, and as the steam that had somehow formed cleared, a group of people were revealed to be standing there, completely drenched, somewhat battered, and looking a little bit lost.

The two groups of people just stared at each other for a few moments, and then the awkward moment was broken by one of the girls in the water fainting.

Instinct kicked in and faster than anyone else could react, Ranma had crossed the yard and caught the falling girl.

Even as Akane was crossing the yard, her usual fit of jealousy was forestalled by one of the boys crying out "Don't touch her!"

Akane stopped cold at Ranma's side, and both of them shot the boy a very quizzical look. Ranma displayed all of his Saotome charm, "Look buddy, I don't know what you've got against your friend here, but I'd really rather nobody drown in this pond, that kind of thing just makes life miserable for everybody." Shampoo and Mousse shuddered at the reference to Jusenkyo.

"No it's not that," Yukinari replied, "it's that she's allergic to men, contact with them makes her break out in a rash, continued exposure could kill her!"

Ranma quickly handed the unconscious Yukina to his fiancée.

"Alright, let's get her inside and let Kasumi take care of her, while _you_ explain what you're doing going around blowing up koi ponds in the middle of the night." Akane was more than a little miffed at the way that the night was turning out. If she and Ranma had one more wedding like tonight, then they might just elope and get it over with. That or something equally desperate, but at the moment pregnancy was an absolute _last_ resort.

* * *

Sosuke, Tessa, and Kyoko stood outside the door to Lady Chapel, nobody had been able to get inside or contact Kaname Chidori since the explosion, and so they were going to try a last-ditch effort to reach her through very unconventional means. Tessa was just giving some last minute instructions before she began.

"Sargent, no matter what happens, do _not_ let anybody move me away from this doorway, if you have to, then tell them that moving me will either kill me or drive me insane."

"Will it ma'am?"

"…Just pass the message along Sagara."

"Yes, Captain."

With that, Tessa began searching deep within herself for the connection she knew that she had to Kaname. Thankfully, the Whispers had returned from whatever void they were in when she had woken up, or she didn't know _how_ she would have gotten Chidori out. Finding the connection, she threw herself at it, pouring all of her mental energy into the connection to the other girl deep within her own consciousness, and then it changed, and instead of pushing _into_ the connection she was pushing _through_ it. Everything went white for the briefest instant.

Kyoko caught the girl halfway to the ground, and with Sosuke's help gently laid her down on the floor in front of the door. A brief check of her vital signs revealed that she was still alive.

After a few minutes the screen next to the door lit up with a single word.

"DONE"

The doors to Lady Chapel opened, and then after a brief pause, barely a moment of silence, Lady Chapel and the immediate area of the _Tuatha de Danaan_ lost all power.

* * *

It was official, these martial artists were strange.

The two who seemed to be the leaders, the boy and girl who had identified themselves as Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo, had sat down at a table with the group, and opened the conversation with a rather strange question:

"Alright, let's get this out of the way first, which one of you is the one that wants to marry me, kill Akane, or vice versa?"

The boy almost started cartwheeling around the room when he found out that none of them were after him or Akane, and that the only martial artist among them wasn't a "real serious" one. Kirie huffed at this, asking him exactly how good he was, even challenging him to a match. He turned her down. "Sorry, but you're too good. I wouldn't be able to beat you without hurting you."

In answer to her shock and outrage at the brush-off, he had simply thrown a piece of brick into the air in the yard with his left hand while calmly holding out his right. Before the brick had hit the ground it had been quartered by three blasts of blue energy. Kirie paled, "That wasn't magic, was it?"

"No."

Kirie kept quiet after that.

And there was another thing that they couldn't figure out about Ranma, namely Yukina. When he had caught her in the koi pond, it had been too dark to notice, but once they got her inside and the Kasumi girl was able to take a look at her they found something strange, the rash that should have been there, that everybody who knew her had been expecting to see, the one that only Yukinari and Fukuyama knew the feel of, the bright red mark that told the world of her silent fear of never finding a man who could love her, the very thing which had triggered a small war between Yukina and Yukinari, was missing.

Ranma Saotome had failed to trigger Yukina's allergy.

He was highly uncomfortable when this was brought up, and quickly changed the subject. While casting his eyes about looking for an excuse to do so, his gaze fell upon Koyomi who was sitting in a corner, huddled up. "What's wrong with her?"

Yukinari winced, he hadn't even bothered to think about Koyomi. "Actually, you. She's androphobic, it's not a real big problem when it's the guys she knows and is used to, but with so many new people…"

Ranma took a closer look at her, taking in the details in his combat mode. "She's got power. A lot of it too." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, she's one of the three people we know who can open a portal to her home at will."

Ranma nodded, as if coming to a decision. "Alright, Pops, Mr. Tendo, Mousse, Konatsu, clear out, fear and that kind of power in combination are dangerous. We don't want to risk something like my…other curse."

All of the men but one left the room, along with one of the girls. Seeing the confusion on the faces of the Seiren group, Ukyo took it upon herself to explain, "Konatsu and I are cross-dressers, I'm actually a girl, and the girl you just saw leave was actually a guy."

Fukuyama suddenly looked rather ill.

The Nerima girls seemed to be waiting for something, and it was quickly revealed what as the door opened again and a slightly damp girl with her red hair in a pigtail walked in. "I was just in with Kasumi, and your friend's gonna be fine. By the way I can't help but noticing that she looks an awful lot like you," she nodded at Yukinari, "Is she your sister?"

Yukinari smiled, there was no way that they would believe that she was his equal but opposite counterpart from an alien world. "Yeah, something like that. What about you, are you Ranma's sister?"

Ranma smirked, if only they knew that they were the same person. "Yeah, something like that." Then her expression changed to one of concern as she looked at Koyomi. "The guys told me about her problem, is she going to be alright?"

"Yeah she'll be fine. Not to sound rude or anything, but why are you so concerned about a girl you don't even know?"

"I'm a martial artist, protecting people is my duty." Her face softened again. "Besides, I know all about how strong and dangerous irrational fear can be, what it can do to the mind…" she trailed off, and for some reason the Seiren group felt an intense fear. For some reason they felt that if they ever found out this girl's fear, they would be haunted by the experience forever.

Akane decided it was time for a new topic of conversation. "So, why don't you tell us about yourselves, maybe start with why you blew up my koi pond in the middle of the night."

And then, before Yukinari could stop her, Miharu opened her mouth.

* * *

Usagi Chiba rubbed her temples, they had been here for seven hours already, and this _wasn't_ going the way she wanted it too. Their parents thought they were in over their heads; she could have laughed, if they only knew…

They were seated at a table in the outers' house, sailors on one side, parents on the other. Although on the plus side, once they had exposed all secrets, Rei's grandfather had silently stood up and walked around the table, taking a seat beside his granddaughter. The girls had greatly appreciated this silent show of support. Their parents had not, especially Rei's father.

The adults would not give an inch, the girls needed to quit. They insisted that the girls do as they requested, the adults knew best, the girls were simply operating under some childish ideal, they eeded to do what their parents told them to. And then Ami's mom had gone and opened a whole new can of worms.

"Please try to understand we're worried about you. You girls are going to get yourselves hurt or worse yet, killed!"

Hotaru had lost all composure and burst out laughing at that, as if _death_ were among the worse things there enemies could do to them. Unfortunately the Doctor took her laughter in entirely the wrong way. "Don't laugh young lady, I've seen those fights on TV, it could very well happen."

Hotaru merely shrugged her off, "Oh, I know that it _could_ happen, I just doubt that it _will_ happen. Death isn't very pleasant; I doubt any of us really want to repeat the experience."

That one stunned the families for a moment. "What do you mean _repeat_?" Dr. Mizuno finally whispered.

The child who held the power of death and rebirth gave her a somewhat chilling smile. "Oh we've all died at one point or another, except _maybe_ Princess Serenity, since that one time with the sword didn't actually work, and the second time she managed to regenerate her body before her consciousness was locked into the crystal. Which _is_ probably a good thing, since she's the one who usually winds up bringing us back…"

Usagi's father was livid at this. "Oh, and who exactly is this so-called '_Princess_' of yours? Why don't we ever see her?"

"She has to keep her identity a secret from our enemies and the world for now, but I can assure you that she is very much a part of this fight."

"So she's a coward who sends children to fight and die for her then. As soon as somebody better comes along you'll lose all value to her and she'll trade up, probably just won't bother with bringing you back next time around." It was the wrong thing to say.

"How dare you!" Haruka's rage matched that of Usagi's father. "The Princess is our leader, she has been a part of every fight, always risking more than any of us, usually more than the rest of us put together! She has sacrificed more and is a better person then any four people in this room combined, and you are not fit to speak her name or kiss the ground she walks on!"

"What do you know!" Usagi's mother _was_ screaming, "What could you possibly know about good people, you… you… you… ABERATION! You are a perversion against nature and your princess is probably just the same, I'll bet you and your partner in sin were the ones who corrupted our daughters in the first place! Are you planning on making them like you? Unnatural FREAKS!"

It was too much. Usagi snapped. She stood up so fast that her chair tipped over and landed on its back as she slammed her hands down on the table, somehow her even tone conveying more rage, disappointment, and shame than any shouting ever could. "How dare you. We sit before you in an attempt to make reparations for the deception that we were forced to play, and you only seek to harm us. More than that, you are a guest here, and you have the audacity to insult not only our entire order, but two of _my soldiers_ about something that is none of your business to begin with, _in their own home_! All of my soldiers are brave sailors who have risked and sacrificed their lives more times than you are worth to save this world. And you have the _audacity_ to insult them because you don't happen to agree with their lifestyle? How _dare_ you. You want to know who the Princess is. All of my Sailors are princesses of their own planets, but I am Sailor Moon, I am Moon Princess Serenity, Heir to the Silver Millennium. As for the two of _you_, you may still be the ones who gave me this _body_, but _apparently_ my parents, the man and woman who _raised_ me, the people who taught me right from wrong and everything else I know about life, apparently you stopped being them a long time ago."

There was a full five seconds of silence, and then something happened that surprised everyone, but nearly floored Usagi. A chair squeaked, and then her brother stood up and walked around the table in silence, exactly as Rei's grandfather had. Except he didn't sit down, he kneeled. His sister was stunned, and it took her a moment to realize that everyone was waiting for her to do something, so she reached down and touched his shoulder, and when he lifted his gaze from the floor to look at her, she found herself saying "Rise." He did so, and then there was a feeling in that brief moment as if something had been completed. And then Shingo bent down and righted the chair his older sister had tipped over, with as much reverence as if it had been a throne. Then the formality was broken as he clasped Usagi's arm and whispered, "I'm proud of you Sis, you'll make a great princess." He then sat down in the open seat on Usagi's left.

Usagi sat back down in her newly righted chair and turned to face her parents with all the air of command and power that her title as Princess Serenity came with. And then another monkey wrench was thrown into her plans.

Through the open window came a ball of light that for some reason made Hotaru pale and Setsuna curse. "I should have _known_ that _he'd_ somehow be involved in this mess…" the light was almost immediately followed by two priestesses, a young man, a winged horse, two crows, and a pair of cats, all of whom had been standing lookout at various positions throughout the house and grounds.

And then the ball of light spoke, "Sailors, Princess, I send you my greetings. I'm sure that Setsuna and Hotaru can explain to you who I am in detail, so I will skip over the pleasantries and formalities and get straight to the point so that you can get back to the long discussion I am sure you are in the middle of right now. As I'm sure you already know, there have been some drastic changes and events, and so I have to request that you and anyone who was with you when you were knocked unconscious by a wall of chaos and creation remain in the house. I cannot stress enough the importance of this request, with the emergency exception of Sailor Pluto, _do not leave the house_. Doing so may put you in more danger than you have ever been in before." And then before any of them could respond, the light burst, like a bubble, and they were left staring at empty space.

Ami's artist father, who had arrived only fifteen minutes before the explosion, spoke up for the first time in almost half an hour. Looking directly at his daughter he asked, "Ami, every day you do this, you risk not coming back. Doing it even once more risks losing your family. And now you have just been told that you are about to be put in more danger than ever before. So I only want you to answer one question for me, _where do you stand_?"

"I stand with my princess, now and forever. I knew the risks going in, when I took up the fuku. We all did. This changes nothing. My princess has my loyalty, and even if that were not the case, I would still be Sailor Mercury."

Her father nodded at this, stood up, and crossed the room. Turning back to the other parents he said, "We were never going to win this one, you're fools if you can't see that by this point."

Then he sat down next to his daughter.

* * *

Yukinari and his friends were shocked; the people here hadn't even blinked as Miharu told them everything about Seiren and all of their adventures. There was no disbelief, they had simply accepted it and taken her at face value. The group of friends had quite possibly found the one set of people in the world crazier than they were.

"You really shouldn't be so surprised, in the house _alone_ we have three people who transform when hit with cold water, two martial artists over 300 years old who are still more than capable of taking on a dozen people at once, on person with a debilitating fear response that triggers insanity and mass carnage, a boy whose father managed to get him engaged to every third girl he meets, three people from an extinct tribe of warriors, one man who survived being sealed in a cave for ten years with no food, water, light, or air, a half-dozen people who use magic on a regular basis, a girl whose cooking recently tried to eat _her_, the world's only _male_ kunoichi and a martial artist who can look you straight in the eye and tell you that there is nothing in this or any world capable of stopping him from protecting the people who are important to him, up to and including demons and immortal beings. There is quite a bit of overlap there, four people didn't even factor into the count, and I didn't even mention the ghost standing right behind you."

Yukinari, Miharu and the rest whipped around to see a girl in a school uniform standing – no, _floating_ several centimeters off the ground behind them. She waved at them, and then turned to the redhead, "I was wondering if it would be alright for me to stay here for a little while, I can't seem to get back into the spirit world."

"Of course Kogane, you may stay as long as you like, you know that you're always welcome here." Akane's reply was genuinely bright and cheerful as she invited the ghost to stay in her home. Yep, the martial artists were definitely weird.

Then the door opened and Kasumi walked through. "You're friend Yukina is going to be alright, she regained consciousness just now, but I'm afraid that she's too exhausted to move. You're welcome to spend the night here."

"Thank you, we really appreciate it."

And so the girls were all put up in the room that Ranma and his father usually shared with Cologne guarding against a certain old lecher, while Happosai was unceremoniously tossed into his room wearing a complicated knot that would have made Houdini's jaw drop. Kasumi had miraculously discovered some more futons, and so none of her guests were completely uncomfortable, even though they had to take the table out of the main room to put the futons down.

Thus settled down, the occupants of the Tendo home completely ignored the beautiful sunrise and went to bed.

A few hours later a letter was delivered addressed to Ranma. It was not delivered by a postal worker. It had no return address. It was not with the mail. Had anyone been watching, they would have seen it simply appear on the small table in the hall. But nobody was watching.

And as the sun rose and the birds sang, the Tendos and their guests found the sleep of the truly exhausted.

* * *

Kagome opened the letter that had arrived that morning. It was strange, there had been no address, not even hers, and it was addressed to herself and Inuyasha, who only a few people in this time period even knew _existed_.

Her blood ran cold when she read the contents of the envelope.

"Kagome Higurashi, Inuyasha no Taisho, I can only hope that you are well. I am the bearer of warnings and grave news.

"I am a friend, please allow me to make that clear up front, I seek to warn you, not threaten.

"Recent events have severely changed the world, making it a very dangerous place for you to be in. There are threats to you now that you are not currently capable of fighting. If you require that I prove my knowledge of you and your capabilities, then I can only offer this word, the wish you made upon the Shikon no Tama. And in a way, my advice to you.

"'Disappear.'

"You are in danger. Do not leave the shrine and house. If you can, run back to the Sengoku jidai. You are in danger. Your family is in danger. Your daughter is in danger.

"Inuyasha's existence and his relationship to Ran must not become public knowledge. I am sorry that it took so long for me to contact you, but of the seven groups, you are in the least danger as the majority of you are several hundred years in the past.

"Trust nobody but each other. This is no longer the world you know. If your daughter's heritage is ever discovered, she will be a target. Dangerous people will come after her, people who you are not yet ready to deal with.

"And they will take her.

"I am currently contacting other people, people who can help you, who can be your allies.

"I ask that you please trust me, hide, and keep yourselves and your daughter safe.

"I will be in contact as soon as I am in a position to help you, until then remember to stay hidden, stay safe, and above all, stay alive. The world and your daughter are going to need the two of you around to save them very soon.

"Protect her.

"0"

Kagome's voice would have been called a scream if her tone hadn't been that of a priestess commanding a demon to be purified, despite this though, her panic was still evident. "Inuyasha!" Someone was threatening her daughter, and so she and her husband would have to remove yet another enemy from the Earth once they came for her. It was that simple. That didn't keep her from being worried. "Inuyasha!"

When the Hanyou appeared with a "What?" he was handed a piece of paper in response. He read it. He scowled.

"I suppose that this means I'm going to need to go get Tetsusaiga out of the closet then, it's been a long time since I've had a good reason to cut somebody to ribbons…"

* * *

The boy walked into the clearing and looked around, doing a quick head count to see who he had to deal and work with. He then turned to the girl who was standing in the center of the clearing, arms folded across her chest and an expectant look on her face, foot tapping impatiently.

Well, no point beating around the bush, "Sakura Avalon, I am sure you are aware by this point that the world has changed drastically."

"Your message said that you would explain."

"And I will, but my explanation will make no sense to most of those here if you do not explain yourself first."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you cannot afford to keep secrets from your family and friends any more, Cardcaptor Sakura."

She started at that, and then she gave a rueful smirk, "Well, I guess that my big secret is out now, I am Sakura Avalon, Cardcaptor and Mistress of the Cards. I have magical powers the likes of which most people dream of, and the majority of it is bound to a deck that now consists of fifty-four cards. Well, there goes my secret identity…"

"No Sakura," the boy smiled sadly, "There go _all_ of our secret identities."

* * *

**A/N: I know, I can hear you now, the story is becoming all about Ranma. Really its not, the focus on Ranma is simply because it works best as the host for the other stories. When it comes right down to it, each of the seven stories carries equal weight, and will be just as involved in the overall plot. There was simply more that needed to be done with Ranma & Co. and the Girls Bravo cast this chapter than needed to happen with the others. That doesn't mean that any of the other stories are less important or will play a lesser role, it simply means that that was where I needed to develop the plot at this particular point. It doesn't mean that I've forgotten or neglected the others, however things may appear.**

**For example, the Full Metal Panic, InuYasha, and Sailor Moon scenes are all setting up for subplots that will take center stage for their chapter or chapters, they just aren't happening right _now_, and so I'm focusing the story on other things.**

**Equally important is the boy going around explaining things to everyone and warning them to stay out of the world for now. This will play a part later in the story, and in fact is part of several subplots that will be interconnected, up to and including the first couple of team elements between the various casts. Which is the _other_ reason that this chapter is so Ranma/GB heavy, since this is a crossover story, my primary focus beyond that of the story itself is going to be the interactions between characters of the various different stories.**

**I do now feel that I have an obligation to warn you, in the near future one of my subplots is going to be dark, very dark. One of our greatest heroes becomes a villain that quite frankly disgusts me even though she is my own creation. Tampering with reality is a dangerous thing, and this is one of the consequences. I will not be explicit, but I feel obligated to warn you that it will be both dark and violent when the time comes. I would rather that my story be as lighthearted as its seven components, and for the most part it will be, but that one point is necessary, and it refuses to be written any other way. When the time comes I will alert you at the top of the chapter and include a summary in the Author's Note at the bottom for those who find it too hard to see a hero driven insane and twisted to evil. She will definitely be the most important villain for a good way in either direction timewise.  
**

**And so I reach the end of another of these letters to you, my readers, and I find myself again wishing I could simply put everything in my head out here for you right now. For those who are at this point still granting their attention to my humble words, thank you, the words may have life breathed into them by the writer, but only the reader can give these creations a place to live and grow. The words are there for you.**

**That said, I ask that you review my work and show me my flaws, because I need all the help I can get to make this come off right. Again thank you for your continued reading and support,**

**NPP6**


	4. Blown Cover and Battle Plans

_Blown Cover and Battle Plans_

Half an hour after Usagi's revelation and the talking light bubble, there had been no real change in the so-called "peace conference" aside from the fact that Rei's father who had only been there by coincidence to begin with was now showing his true slimebag politician colors and trying – and failing – to play _both_ sides of the table. The only accomplishment he could have really claimed that night was that he _almost_ single-handedly reconciled everybody present, albeit the temporary truce would have likely ended once they disposed of his corpse.

To general relief Setsuna finally had enough and interrupted his monologue, slipping out unnoticed and then coming back in having transformed into Sailor Pluto, and proceeding to brain him with the heavy end of her Garnet Rod. She then capitalized on the moment to announce, "Alright, I've given that idiot half an hour, and whenever he takes longer than that it spells trouble. So, given the fact that we're going nowhere fast, Princess I'm afraid that I am going to have to bow out of this farce, in order to fulfill my duties as The Guardian of Time."

"Of course Sailor Pluto, this is a more trivial personal matter anyway, if your duties call you away, then nobody here can blame you for that." Her tone made it rather clear to the rest of the Sailors that Usagi wished that _she_ had such a convenient excuse to bow out. The use of titles however also made it clear that Usagi knew how serious things actually were.

"Thank you Princess," Pluto hesitated, which worried the girls and Mamoru, who had never known her to hesitate, and then she glanced at Hotaru, who slowly nodded back at her, which upped that status to scared, and then to terrified at what she said next, "You should know, the one who sent that message, he's powerful. Dangerously so, but he will _probably_ be on our side. The real problem is that he is present at all." She looked directly into her princess' eyes and continued, "If he's here, then it means that you were right and we're in serious trouble." She switched back to addressing the general occupants of the room, "Something has threatened reality as we know it, probably from the outside. Nobody leave the house until I get back." She moved to teleport to the Space-Time Door, and then she froze. "I can't…" she whispered, so low that none of the others were sure that they had heard it, then seemed to regain her composure except for a cold fire now in her eyes, "It appears that there is too much temporal-spatial flux at the moment for me to access The Door. I'm going for answers."

Hotaru jumped up to stop her, "Wait, what are you going to do? You know that he probably knows more than us, so why don't you trust him?"

"Because I'm not _allowed to_ Hotaru, my duty may be to Time, but it is to my princess first, and so I cannot afford to trust him implicitly without at least knowing his plan and motives." Pluto decided that now would be a good time to drop a little bombshell, besides, she needed the distraction to charge up for a direct teleport to the point in space that she could feel was the center of the disturbance. "Now then, if you'll all excuse me, I have to go hunt down my ex-boyfriend and _kill_ him for not warning us about this." She then teleported out before anyone else could say another word.

* * *

Ryoga was now confused, it was one thing for _him_ to get disastrously lost in a place like this with no idea how he had gotten there, but he now had to deal with this girl he had found unconscious. After he had shaken her awake, she had told him that her name was Naru, and she had even less idea of how she had gotten here than he did, a novelty he would have reveled in had he had the chance. The last thing she remembered before he shook her awake was a flash, and then it was like falling asleep, everything had simply faded.

Ryoga assumed that the flash must have been the same explosion that had knocked him out, but he hoped he was wrong. According to Naru, she had been in _Minato_ at the time, and he didn't even want to think about what that must mean with London, Moscow, and New York in a direct line between there and the Tendo Dojo. She had looked at him a bit funny when he mentioned that, but apparently decided to let whatever was bothering her go.

But what Ryoga was _really_ trying hard not to think about was the dojo itself. If the blast had been as big as Naru's information would have him believe, then the dojo would have been leveled, and everyone inside, Akari, Akane, even Ranma… he had to get back, he wouldn't stop until he saw it for himself.

"What's that?" it was the first time Naru had spoken in a while, and Ryoga quickly saw what she was pointing at.

"No way…" he breathed, and then he and Naru started a dead heat sprint towards the prone figure of Doctor Tofu Ono.

* * *

The Mew Mews were all in varying stages of shock for the second time that day, Ryou had managed to find a door into the underground bunker they had been told about, and (not entirely surprisingly with funding and support from the Japanese government) it put every superhero headquarters they had come across so far to shame.

Ryou had just managed to get the main computer up and running and was going through some of the less classified files when he saw something that made him pause.

"Girls! We've got trouble!"

* * *

The Cardcaptors and their friends and family were in shock, plain and simple. Well, most of them were, Kero was disguising his confusion by keeping quiet and nodding his head at appropriate times, effectively creating the illusion that he actually knew what was going on, while Ms. McKenzie actually did get what was going on, and seemed to be taking it rather well.

Syaoran had run out of questions to ask the newcomer, and Sakura only had one left. Everybody else was trying to decide whether to be more shocked over what Sakura had just told them (or the fact _that_ she had just told everyone, as the case may be) or over what this stranger from nowhere had just claimed. Tori had been asleep since before the explosion, those who were still capable of higher cognitive functioning were beginning to suspect that his sister's new fiancé had slipped the older Avalon sibling something to avoid interruption when he (finally) asked her.

Sakura then reached around to the deck holster on her hip, and withdrew a card. She handed it to the boy who had the attention of everyone in the park, asking him, "This was here when we woke up, what can you tell us about it? Are there more like it? Will it work like the other cards do?"

The boy took the card and looked at it. Only those who knew him _very_ well would have seen the look of surprise and joy on his face at finding a part of _it_ so soon. "The First…" not really a whisper, or even a breath. He looked back up at the girl who held part of the fate of the Universe in her hands without knowing it. He couldn't tell her _just_ what she had, but he could give her a good general warning, "Last question first, no. 'The First' will not work like your other cards, simply because _it_ is not like your other cards. For one thing it is incomplete. Or rather, the card is complete, but it is also a part of something larger. One of seven. There is also the fact that its nature is different from the others, in that its magic is a representation of the dragon of your power and spirit. It will draw its power directly from your star, instead of using you as a medium, but it also won't be able to do much on its own. Unless I miss my guess, it will allow you to blend the powers of the other cards more effectively, but as a price, you will sacrifice energy and their individual strength. For example if you used it to channel Firey, Windy, and Fly, you would only feel the drain of using any one of the cards rather than three together, but their combined power would also only be equivalent to that of any one card.

"Second question, yes and no. There are no other _cards_ like it, but as I mentioned before, 'The First' is one of seven pieces to a whole, which may play a large part in saving reality as we know it. Before you ask, no, I haven't found any of the other six and don't know what or where they are yet.

"Now to answer your first question last." He handed the card back to the girl in front of him who he knew full well probably wasn't ready to bear the burden that he would have to place on her shoulders. "Aside from what I have already told you, there are three things you should know about it. First, it is as much your card as any of the other fifty-three, with the possible exceptions of Windy, the first to claim you, and Hope, the one you created. Also possibly Fly, the first one you captured, and Shadow and Mirror, the ones that take your form.

"Second, as I mentioned earlier, it is directly bound to you and your power, meaning that if it is ever destroyed or falls into the wrong hands, you will likely share its fate.

"Third, and possibly most importantly, there are others out there, some people, some not. They're like me, but with one major difference. They want to destroy this world, and everything in it. They will have no qualms about hurting people." He took a breath before he dropped yet another bombshell on this poor girl's life, "They will hurt anyone close to you in any way they can, they will be trying to destroy the card, and Sakura, they will kill you if you give them the chance.

"The good news is that they're not here yet, and what's more they're hurting pretty badly right now, but I don't know how long I'll be able to keep them out of this world, se be ready Sakura Avalon, and keep your allies close, because in your next fight, the stakes might just be your life.

"I have to go now, given the way that this town has changed, I would suggest that you all get to the Taylor mansion, and alert your various families with whatever cover story seems appropriate. You should know that everyone in this clearing is now in danger, Sakura more than the rest, but since you're all from the old world, and your memories are from before the rewrite, you're all in danger. You will all become targets eventually.

"I have to go now; there are still five groups that I need to contact to keep them from causing any trouble. I'll contact you as soon as I can, until the stay together, and please, stay safe."

He stepped behind a tree and vanished before anyone could say another word. Tori woke up just in time to see him go. He was quickly distracted from this though by the mass migration to the Taylor mansion and the glint of a reflective material on his little sister's left hand…

* * *

Lady Chapel was now completely unrecognizable, Kaname and Tessa were unconscious in hospital beds on the far side of the room (it was deemed unsafe to move them, especially after what the captain had said to Sergeant Sagara), there were four cots set up, two on either side of the door, and a set of curtains separated the room into three distinct areas, with Kyoko and Mao sharing one third, Sosuke's and Weber's cots in the second, and the good sergeant himself never leaving the unconscious girls, his cot only being slept in in the loosest sense when Kurz and Melissa dragged him unconscious from the chair next to Kaname's bed.

With that particular crisis stabilized and emergency batteries and extension cords powering the impromptu ICU, the engineering crews were set to work restoring the power the parts of the ship surrounding Lady Chapel, while the bridge crew set course for the nearest friendly port capable of giving them medical aid discreetly, namely Tokyo, Japan.

* * *

It was coming up on late morning in Nerima, and at the Tendo household, Yukinari, Ranma, and all of their friends were dead to the world. Happosai was still in the tree, wary of the combined magical barriers of Cologne, Risa Fukuyama, and Yukina, as well as Ranma's oath to hold him down while Akane made good on a threat she had been using for the past few months if he tried anything.

In a supply closet in the dojo however, Tsubasa Kurenai, Kodachi Kuno, and Pantyhose Taro had yet to discover their situation, and were each trying to break free while avoiding being killed by the other two's attempts to do the same. All in all not too far out of the ordinary for this part of Tokyo.

* * *

Behind the Higurashi shrine, a strange sight awaited anyone who had occasion to look. A Shrine Priestess, in full ceremonial garb, in the modern era, sitting and fletching arrow after arrow. Meanwhile a young man with long silver hair was tying logs together in a fashion that screamed "BARRICADE" to anyone with a passable knowledge of military history.

Kagome and Inuyasha were no fools, they felt that they could trust the mysterious warning, but had no particular reason to, and besides, they couldn't abandon the rest of Kagome's family. If it came down to it, their mysterious friend could obviously contact them if things got dire, and so in the seven hours since Kagome had opened that letter, they had begun preparations for war. They would run back to the Sengoku jidai if they had too, but before they did, they were going to make _sure_ that whoever was after their daughter knew that they weren't going to let them have her.

Meanwhile, with his mother and grandfather occupied watching Ran while her parents worked, Souta was taking his responsibilities as an uncle _very_ seriously, and while he may not have the demon-fighting experience of his sister and brother-in-law, he did have his own slightly misguided and troublesome adolescence to draw on, and so while the acknowledged warriors were arming up, he was in the kitchen making a slightly more modern weapon for his own use if it came to it, namely taking apart fireworks to make a device that would get him into some serious trouble if he were caught with them: Pipe Bombs.

* * *

The doorbell at the home of the outer Senshi rang, and Hotaru opened it to reveal a boy standing there looking like he was ready to dodge if necessary.

He came in and looked around, quickly doing a head count. "I take it that Setsuna's off looking for me?"

Usagi nodded, "Yes, now if you could please tell me, preferably in order, who you are, what you're doing here, why two of my most powerful friends seems to know, fear, respect, and dislike you in equal measures, and why the entire Universe just got rewritten around us?"

The boy winced, he hadn't heard _that_ tone since the last time his mother had told him off for doing something he shouldn't. _well,_ he thought, _I already knew that they would have figured out most of it by now, although I don't know why I thought that that would make things any easier…_

"First off, let me say to everyone who is currently finding themselves homeless, that housing arrangements have already been made for anyone who needs them, free of charge. Now then, to business. I'm going to skip straight to the last point, because it's the most important. As Usagi Tsukino already mentioned, the entire Universe has just been rewritten, but more than that, all of _reality_ was rewritten in that explosion. And not just your reality either…"

And so, for the third time in less than thirty-six hours, he began the short version of how exactly he had managed to screw up everyone's lives, just when they had all earned their happy endings.

* * *

When Sailor Pluto had attempted to access the Door of Space-Time, she was unable to. This was because there had been some changes to the door, and so she was unable to properly visualize the location. This would be corrected the next time she used the portal in Charon Castle.

What she had succeeded in doing was setting off a reaction. She inadvertently created a nexus point, where the seven lines met and began to cross, and a ripple spread out in every direction, across space and time, smoothing out the edges, finishing the changes of the rewrite, the various things that had survived the original rewrite were unchanged, but everything was no longer certain, and an all-too-young pink-haired girl on her way home was about to discover this in an incredibly painful fashion.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everybody, aren't you glad that I finally resolved those cliffhangers? I apologize for the relative shortness of this chapter, but I'm trying to keep too much from happening before our reality hopping friend manages to contact everybody. I'm also trying to get the various timelines re-synchronized, as they became somewhat disjointed after the events of the first chapter had various groups recover at various rates. And so I'm forced to avoid too much happening with the Higurashis and the _TDD-1_'s crew to make up for their time lapses, while the Girls Bravo group is currently getting set up for their own plot twist, and the only way to keep things quiet and reasonably paced in the Ranmaverse is for everybody to be unconscious. To those who are wondering, yes, Ryoga is going to keep wandering around and picking up strays for a little while, anyone who figures out how I'm deciding who shows up gets bonus points. For those who are a little bit confused about Doc Tofu, I'm currently trying to decide between two separate versions of how that played out, but I can promise that it will be explained in the next chapter.**

**On another note, I will say in advance that despite the fact that they are sharing a bedroom for the foreseeable future, Ranma and Akane will not be doing anything to force the rest of the wrecking crew to accept their decision, although in about four more visits from the still nameless reality jumping mystery man who has a history with Setsuna. Also, I apologize in advance to any diehard Sailor Moon purists for diverging from canon as far as I'm going to be forced to, but Crystal Tokyo and Neo Serenity are a _long_ way in a now nonexistant future that is about to have its remains fractured six way from Sunday. really though, come one. You can't insert the other six without changing the Crystal Millennium at least _slightly_. Don't panic though, this is really the only spoiler I'm planning on giving you: The timeline will be fixed, the future will be saved, and once the plot twists finish and the story arc closes, the Crystal Millennium will be reborn, albeit slightly different than before.**

**For the very few that my traffic stats page is telling me actually made it this far in my story, thank you. I cannot begin to tell you how much it means to me that there are people out there who actually take the time to read (or at least notice the existence of) my work. You really are the best.**

**Thank you again for your continued reading and support, and please review, I could really use the criticism and comments.**

**NPP6**


	5. And so, After a Brief Time Lapse

_And so, After a Brief Time Lapse…_

A young girl with pink hair was running. She refused to believe what had been placed before her. She must have simply come back too early, that had to be it.

A rather confused blonde woman had just been started on the path to madness. The pink-haired girl would continue to haunt her for some years before madness took her, but eventually it would.

The first apocalypse had been triggered.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when the occupants of the Tendo home were finally awakened by a roar that was all too familiar to half of them, specifically the regulars. Pantyhose Taro had won the rat race to see who could escape the closet first, if only by nature of the fact that he was the first one knocked out, and therefore the first to wake up. He then proceeded to sneak out of the dojo-turned-dormitory and jump into the koi pond.

And so the usual Furinkan fare returned to the Tendos and Saotomes, along with the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew. Unfortunately their late-night visitors got caught up in the usual chaos as well.

Also unfortunately they were blissfully unaware of the proper protocol in this kind of situation, and so instead of letting the seasoned martial artists deal with the source of the noise that interrupted their sleep, they did what anyone would do.

They all rushed out to see what it was.

Now to be fair, this was a group of fairly experienced fighters, after all, they had effectively destroyed a massive wedding better even than the Crew did, not to mention putting down one world government-class insurrection and soundly defeating elite Seiren guards twice, once at the Space Time Administration Bureau, and again at the Home of Lord Kazuha. However, there is a _very_ short list of things that can prepare you for something like Pantyhose Taro, and frankly the only thing that truly prepares you for him is past experience.

Which is something that the group from Seiren were sorely lacking.

Fortunately Akane had given the more experienced martial artists of Nerima Ward _plenty_ of experience in getting civilians out of the way of the fight. Of course that was before the fiancée wars had upgraded with the wedding attempts, and she was now perfectly capable of at least holding her own against any Nerima Regular except for the obvious four.

The visiting team quite frankly froze at the sight of the yeti/ox/eel/crane/octopus in front of them, only being snapped out of their daze long enough to recognize their imminent demise as the beast attempted to pummel them into the ground. Then things got (sadly) normal again.

Smoke pellets from the two ninjas erupted around the group and Taro, followed almost immediately by chains that wrapped around them and dragged them to safety. Throwing spatulas and a chui diverted the falling arm, while sharp stone fragments covered the evacuation.

Mousse's chains somehow missed Yukinari however, and he was sent flying by the combined shockwaves of Cologne's Breaking Point and Taro's punch. As he was about to smash head first through a wall, he suddenly found his trajectory interrupted by a red blur. It took him a moment to realize that he was currently being held in the arms of a well-built red haired girl. It was at this point that he began to freak out.

"Aaagh! Putmedownputmedownputmedownputmedown! Put me down!"

The redhead currently bouncing around the Tednos' backyard looked down at the boy in her arms, cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "So then should I take that to mean you _want_ ugly over there to put your head through a wall?"

"NO! You don't understand, Yukina's allergy to men, I'm the same way, only the other way around! I'm allergic to girls!"

Ranma's smirk went absolutely cocky at this. "Well then, I guess that it's a good thing that I'm not a girl then, isn't it? Say, I do believe that this is your stop." The martial artist handed her burden off to his friends. "Now all of you, stay here. Don't get involved in this fight or you could get hurt."

It then became apparent what Akane had been doing while the fight was going on. "Ranma! Hot water incoming!" The girl's hand snapped up to catch the kettle that her fiancée had thrown over the heads of their guests from the other end of the engawa.

"Thanks Akane! You're a life saver!"

Yukinari stopped him as he tried to return to the fray. "Wait, just what do you mean _we'll_ get hurt, what about you? And what do you mean you're not a girl?"

If possible, Ranma's smirk grew even cockier. "I do this kind of thing on a daily basis. As for the 'not a girl' thing, well, just add hot water and – " She poured the contents of the kettle over her head, triggering the change " – I return to my birth form. Courtesy of Jusenkyo and a stupid panda."

An explosion rang out as the remaining food delivery for the wedding was used up on Taro, knocking him back and away from the house. Meanwhile the doors to the dojo burst open as the Neriman antihero speed recovery kicked in, and Kodachi and a mailbox came out, quickly followed by Principal Kuno and his son, who had finally woken up and escaped from the basement. Miss Midori quickly shut the door behind them, hoping that the children in her care could thus avoid the notice of the flying Minotaur. Maomolin was still hiding in the closet.

As the three Kunos and a mailbox joined the rest of the group, Ranma jumped up and rebounded horizontally off of the house to land next to Akane in the front of his on again off again group of friends, firing off a Moko Takabisha as he did so, sending Taro through the wall.

Ranma deemed this to be an appropriate time to begin his tirade. "Pantyhose, you went too far this time! I don't care _what_ your grievances are, you _do not_ attack noncombatants! More than that you made the mistake of going after noncombatants who were guests here, and are therefore under our protection. You've infringed upon everyone's honor by assaulting them. This time you don't get to just walk away."

Kirie rushed to the edge of the engawa, shouting, "No! You can't fight that thing! Run away! There's no point in getting yourself killed, let's just get out of here!"

"You obviously don't know who you're talking to." Nabiki drawled from behind them.

Kasumi nodded and called out, "Nabiki's right, you all haven't been formally introduced yet."

"Oh yeah, sorry about that." Ranma replied. "I'll skip the individual introductions for the sake of time, but Yukinari, Miharu, and everybody, there're some people I'd like for you to meet, allow me to introduce us."

Shampoo saluted with her chui, a tendril of purple hair blowing across her face, Cologne hopped up to stand on top of her staff to bring her to near-average height, Mousse snapped out the blades from his sleeves and let the sun glint off of them, Konatsu gave a small flirtatious wave with his left hand while his right fanned out a set of shuriken, Sasuke simply bowed while drawing a katana from the scabbard strapped to his back, Principal Kuno drew and spun his hair clippers around the forefingers of both hands American Gunslinger style, Kodachi gave a twirl and cast off her gown, leaving her in a leotard with two clubs in her left hand and her right twirling her ribbon around her, Tatewaki Kuno held his bokken high with his right hand and conjured lightning as he launched into a monologue that everybody tuned out, Ukyo drew a spread of throwing spatulas from her bandolier while swinging her Battle Spatula off of her back and bringing it into a low ready position, Soun Tendo was wearing his full armor and simply gave a nod to his guests as he planted the blunt end of his spear in the ground, Miss Hinako had shown up at some point during the fight and now stood next to Soun, her fishbowl in one hand while she was flipping a coin in the other, a hand waved at them from the mailbox that was Tsubasa, and Akane and Ranma were at the middle of this line of martial artists, somehow angled so that they were simultaneously side by side and back to back (a battle position they had perfected over several months of wedding attempts), her with a mallet on her right shoulder and him with the bo staff she had just handed him tucked under his left arm, an near identical cocky smirk on both of their faces.

Ranma continued, "We are the world's foremost group of martial artists. Everybody, meet the Nerima Wrecking Crew... well most of us anyway." The absence of the lost boy was notable.

And then a roar came from behind them and the group turned almost as one to face their opponent and proceeded to take Pantyhose Taro apart. He would be released from the hospital a week later.

* * *

Ryoga was actually beginning to wonder if even _Ranma_ was capable of causing this kind of mess. On top of Naru and Tofu, he had managed to pick up a lady who wouldn't tell them anything about herself, a weird pale girl called Kanna who seriously creeped him out, and a guy with pointed ears who all but refused to acknowledge the others' presence. Ryoga wasn't entirely sure that that guy was human.

What was even stranger was that everybody seemed to be following _him_ since he was the only one who seemed to be capable of going anywhere.

* * *

Setsuna Meiou found herself in the uniquely rare position of being worried. Or rather, she was terrified. Any time that _he_ showed up it could only mean trouble. Add to that the fact that she couldn't seem to access the gate, and she would have been willing to bet that Crystal Tokyo had just become a pipe dream, if she were willing to admit to the possibility of that occurring.

As she walked into the office and turned the lights on, she noticed a note sitting on the corner of the desk.

_Setsuna,_

_I know that you're going to read this at some point, so I can only ask that you not try to find me. It would only serve to complicate things even more than they have already been. Wait here, I'll be coming back as soon as I finish a few errands. There's food in the mini-fridge._

She scowled, she always hated it when someone left her out of the loop, and nobody could do it quite so irritatingly well as _him_. She would have to trust him on this one though; he had really left her no other choice. She walked behind the desk and sat down to wait for the single most aggravating man in _any_ universe to show up so she could throttle him.

In the meantime she amused herself by using a pad of paper from his desk drawer to chronicle the various ways she was going to seek retribution against him.

* * *

Usagi and her friends used the opening from the mysterious stranger's exit to break off their "peace talks" with their various families and initiate an emergency meeting behind closed doors. Needless to say, this left said families divided along a battle line of those who supported the girls and those who wanted them to stop. The one exception was Rei's father who had regained consciousness during the visit and made the mistake of trying to bully the stranger into telling them everything. He was still in shock over learning that when they had jumped realities he had somehow wound up with the same position and responsibilities, but with almost no political power to speak of.

Thus the eight girls and Mamoru found themselves in the Outers' kitchen, trying to decide on a course of action. Unsurprisingly the most ardent supporters for following the visitor's instructions were Usagi and Michiru, while Mamoru didn't trust the man in the least, Minako and Makoto were all for him (not caring in the slightest what his plan was), and Haruka, Rei, and Ami were at varying points on the line that runs from caution to trust.

This discussion had been going about as far as the farce with the parents when Hotaru finished her bowl of ice cream and looked around at her arguing teammates. Sighing, she stood up, picked up a small piece of paper from off of the counter, and walked over to the phone. None of the others noticed what she was doing until she had actually started dialing and Haruka asked her what she was doing.

Hotaru turned and looked at her friends, her conveying her rather frank appraisal of their current intelligence level. "I'm calling that number he gave us, Usagi and Mamoru need a place to sleep and that futon in the living room really won't work for long."

"But Hotaru, we don't know that we can trust th–"

"I do." Hotaru cut her surrogate 'father' off.

Everyone was slightly taken aback by her vehement approval of him, but it was Michiru who asked the question on everyone's mind. "What do you mean?"

The girl turned her gaze to her mother and something in her eyes said that for the moment she was as serious as she had been in the battle with Pharaoh 90, they all would have sworn that an image of an adult Hotaru, in full uniform and prepared to lower the Silence Glaive, had been overlayed in their mind's eye with the girl before them. "You didn't see it, did you? The pain? The regret? The failure? I know that look. I've seen it on that level exactly twice. He failed. He failed and it cost him, and if it didn't cost a lot more people besides, then it's about to. The only thing on his mind is fixing this, or at least minimizing damage. His only intention is to save as many people as he can. We can probably trust him as much as we can the princess."

Usagi nodded. "All right then, if you're so sure about this Hotaru, then go for it."

* * *

A rather persistent ringing cut through the silence of the nearly empty building, causing Setsuna to glare at the offending device, finally giving in and answering. It was then that she received her second small shock since arriving, specifically hearing the voice of her adoptive daughter on the line.

"Hotaru? How did you know where I am? No – forget that – I can guess. What do you need?"

* * *

"Setsuna-mama? Is that you? Hold on I'm going to put you on speaker phone." A button press later the voice of their absent ally was heard repeating her previous question, namely: "How can I help you all?"

Since she had been the one who called in the first place, Hotaru took it upon herself to explain.

"This guy showed up here, I think he mentioned knowing you actually, and gave us a long explanation about how we're in some sort of alternate reality right now. He also seemed to know that there's some hostility going on over here, and said that we should call this number if we needed a fix for a housing problem."

It was at this point that, on the other end of the line, Setsuna noticed that the computer for the workstation she was at was on, just asleep. She jiggled the mouse to wake it up.

A string of curses that would have made most galactic pirates quail erupted from the phone in a dozen languages from as many periods across time. "Setsuna-mama, what's wrong?"

"He tricked me! That jerk actually tricked me into playing secretary for him. There's even a checklist here with everything I've already done checked off! I don't believe him! He had my every action timed down to the last second! What kind of jerk does that to somebody!?"

She received a rather noticeable silence in response.

"Cute. I assume that you're calling about the apartments for Usagi and Mamoru, Shingo, and – that can't be right, did something _else_ happen while I was gone? I have an apartment here booked for _both_ of Ami's parents."

"No, I don't think Mom's come around, but maybe there's another situation that we don't know about, he _does_ seem to be the one holding all the cards."

"Alright, he's done me the courtesy of already having this paperwork filled out, so I'm going to go ahead and file and submit it. I'm guessing that you want to try and get some distance between people to try and defuse this?"

Minako nodded, a pointless gesture given the present means of communication, but an instinct and habit nonetheless. "Yeah, after the way Usagi lit into her parents, she can't exactly crash with them like the original plan."

Hotaru gave a very feline grin that she had picked up from the lunar cats while she put her two bits' worth in. "Yup, besides, the sooner Usagi and Mamoru get some privacy, the sooner _I_ get to see Chibiusa again."

Michiru facefaulted, Mamoru choked, and Haruka burst out laughing at the girl's rather brash comment. By far however, the most memorable reaction was Usagi's. She 'EEEP'ed, went several shades redder than the crimson top she was wearing, and managed to trip over her chair as she tried to stand up, ending up on the floor with a clatter, still waving her hands in front of her defensively and stuttering incomprehensible denials.

Hotaru smirked as she walked past the prone girl on her way out of the kitchen. "_That's_ for stealing my ice cream this afternoon."

On the other end of the phone, Setsuna finished submitting the paperwork in silence, silently chuckling as she envisioned the scene at the Outers' home.

* * *

"Another Mew Mew?"

Ryou turned to look at Ichigo. "Yes and no. She is basically a Mew Mew in all but name, but apparently _her_ project was the prototype for _this_ one. When the Mew Mew Project was declared a success, she was reassigned here. She still operates somewhat independently, but she does come around from time to time."

Raimu was ecstatic, "A new Mew Mew! What's she like? What's her name?"

Keiichiro answered while still reading the screen. "Apparently she's very similar to Ichigo, her transformation is based on another type of cat. Her codename is Tokyo Black Cat Girl."

* * *

Yukinari and his friends were all on their way home in a mild daze, having gotten the full story of Nerima's recent history from the group at the dojo. They had respectfully taken their leave though, and were on the train home when something even stranger occurred.

Every last communications device that any of them owned went off simultaneously: pagers, cell phones, email, even a paper airplane that wound up hitting Yukinari between the eyes. The same message was on all of them.

_Don't go home. Don't go to your school or jobs. Do not contact anyone you know. Go to the Fukuyama estate. Wait there. Do not leave. This is not the world you know. Everything you think you know has changed. I'll contact you when I can._

– _A friend_

* * *

Tofu finally managed to bring his newest patient back to consciousness, the young girl's eyes fluttering open to see the group that Ryoga had somehow managed to accumulate. She then stated the first thing on her mind in the most eloquent manner possible for her at the moment, "oooooooooooooooooowwwwww."

The good doctor smiled. "He's with us."

"What happened, who are you people?"

"It's alright, I'm a doctor. We aren't sure just what happened yet, the last thing any of us seem to remember is a flash of light and then we woke up here. We aren't even sure where 'here' is. Now I need to check if you're hurt. Sudden unconsciousness can sometimes result in a concussion; can you tell me your name?"

"Yuuki… Yuuki Tachibana."

* * *

Sakura laid the last card – ironically "The First" – on the table in front of her. She had just finished informing everybody of the secret battles that had been fought years ago, as well as her own magical abilities. She had even demonstrated a bit, several people were still in shock over the fact that she could fly. She almost laughed; her friends were finding it harder to believe that she was the most powerful mage in the world than they had that they were in an alternate dimension.

Of course, she couldn't have known that her brother had already known about it, and she was only filling in some of the details for her. _He_ had gone catatonic after seeing the ring on her left hand.

* * *

The crew of the _TDD-1_ was rather worried at the moment, they had gotten to Tokyo Bay, but had to keep their ECS up, as per protocol in a situation where there was a potential war going on with unknown sides. This was compounded by the fact that they couldn't get anyone to answer on the secure frequencies. They were almost ready to just sail in and hope for the best, because Chidori and the Captain needed a real hospital _now_.

Then somebody finally picked up on the other end of their transmissions.

"Hello? If you can hear me stop transmitting… good, I managed to get through. Listen, I need to speak with Captain Testarossa."

"This is Commander Richard Mardukas. Captain Testarossa is currently unavailable."

"…Status report."

"Identify yourself."

"Commander, protocol is out the window at this point. If you must have confirmation of my clearance level, have your man check the frequency that we are currently speaking on."

Mardukas looked over at the communications officer, who was looking rather pale. "Well?"

"S-s-sir, we're receiving him on _every_ frequency."

"So it's an open channel?"

"N-no sir, even an open communication has a frequency, he's transmitting a coded message on _every_ frequency."

"Meaning?"

"What it means Commander is that I am using a communications unit that is an _exact_ match for the one on the _Tuatha de Danaan_, and I'm sure you know exactly how many of those there are."

"I'm not sure I catch your meaning."

"Tell me, have you ever noticed that during the Captain's staff meetings there's that one chair that nobody ever occupies? Given the recent turn of events, I would have to assume that since Captain Testarossa is not in fact on the bridge, she is somehow incapacitated. The fact that Kalinin is not available either tells me that he is keeping an eye on her, which makes this a medical emergency. That established, I have a question I need to ask you, and you can either answer it or put somebody competent on the line, perhaps a member of the AS team."

"What is your question _sir_?"

"Is the captain's current condition connected _in any way_ to her whispered status or Kaname Chidori?"

There was a brief stunned silence before Mardukas decided that he really had no choice but to trust the man.

* * *

For the first time since he had first seen Akane in a wedding dress, Ranma Saotome was stunned. He silently passed the letter he had just finished reading to said girl, her being the other addressee. Her eyes widened, open shock replacing confusion on her face. The letter dropped from her fingers as she finished it.

"What now Ranma?"

The boy sighed, "I don't know, I just don't know. There's always been some way to fight, but this… there's nothing we can do to change this."

"So what does that mean for us?"

"Nothing. This doesn't change things between us, it just means that we might have to fight a little harder to stay together, but I promise you this, we will be together. If that letter's right, and reality itself was rewritten, then that means it can be done. So if we have to go _that far_, I promise you Akane, this will work out."

"What about the others?"

"They'll have to figure out what they want to do on their own… this is a chance to start over, and I want to do it with you. So let's start here, because apparently in this version we've never met before." Ranma stood up and faced his fiancée. "I'm Ranma Saotome." He waved, gesturing towards the world in general, smirking as he did so. "Sorry about this…"

Akane smiled back at him, recognizing the words from the night they met and responding in kind, "That's alright, I'm Akane do you want to be friends?"

Ranma's smirk turned into an open grin. "Yeah, I think I'd like that…"

* * *

It had just started to rain at the home of the Outers when a knock came at the door. Haruka opened it to find the _last_ person she had expected to see, especially considering that he had left not that long ago. "What are _you_ doing back here!?"

The boy sighed, it had been the reaction he was expecting, he supposed he should count himself lucky that Setsuna hadn't lost patience with the runaround he had her on and come back yet. "Hello to you too. I need to borrow Dr. Mizuno and Saturn for a bit."

Haruka cocked an eyebrow. She would _not_ come across as the overbearing parent and drive her daughter to this stranger in a fit of rebellion. "I don't suppose that you can tell us _why_ you need them?"

"Not really. I can say that there are two lives at stake in the immediate sense and possibly all of reality in the long term."

* * *

Haruka's initial shout of surprise had attracted attention from various members of the household, including Michiru and Hotaru, who had been in the middle of a lecture from the latter to the former about what was and wasn't appropriate in teasing Usagi. The interrupting fits of giggling were severely detracting from the effect.

Upon hearing the visitor at the door, they listened in on the conversation he was having with Haruka. Their eavesdropping was soon interrupted by their own heated yet quiet conversation, which ended when Haruka stuck her head in and asked Michiru to get Dr. Mizuno. With her (relatively) delicate lover successfully out of the way, Haruka went into full parent mode and began interrogating her adoptive daughter. "Hotaru, how much do you trust this guy really?"

In a near repeat of the earlier scene in the kitchen, Hotaru's face grew serious, seeming to lose all traces of childhood and innocence, a truly terrifying effect on an apparently thirteen year old girl. "Haruka-papa… he ranks somewhere between you and Michiru-mama… and Usagi in full Princess Serenity mode…"

Haruka deflated slightly at this, then remembered why she had wanted Michiru out of the room and asked the question that had been on their mind since Hotaru had first stated that she trusted the stranger. "You said that you recognized something in his eyes; that you had seen a similar look before."

"Yes, he hides it well but it's there, behind what he shows, as long as you know what to look for…"

"And you know."

"Yes."

"How?"

"I already told you, I've seen it before."

"Where though? You said you had seen it twice, but never told us who you saw it on."

In response Hotaru summoned the Silence Glaive, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Here. Right here, as it passed by eye level on the way down."

Haruka found herself staring at her own reflection in the blade of her daughter's weapon.

* * *

Usagi in full princess mode again, the Outers, the Mizunos, and their visitor were seated around the table that had been recently used for the negotiations between the Sailors and their families. The argument was on its nineteenth cycle.

"If you want Hotaru and Dr. Mizuno to come with you, then you have to take us _all_ along."

"I can't do that."

Ami interrupted before cycle twenty could begin, "Can you at least tell us _why_ you can't take anyone else along?"

The visitor hesitated, and then nodded. "What we're dealing with is a medical emergency involving two key members of one of the other groups. If I bring in your entire team without being able to warn the group about what's going on, suddenly we become a potential threat… imagine if Usagi and Hotaru were comatose, that's essentially where they are."

Usagi nodded, "Alright, so you have to have as small a team as possible… how are you planning on getting Hotaru and Ami's mom to them? I assume teleporting is out?"

"I was going to take them out to the sub in a speedboat, unless you happen to have an alternate suggestion?"

"Well, we do happen to have an excellent helicopter pilot on hand…"

The boy smiled. "And nobody bothers to put a pilot in a head count. I see where you're going with this, and it could work… although I do have to point out that Haruka won't be able to use her own helicopter."

The girl in question shrugged. "That's fine, I can fly anything you throw at me."

Five minutes and one teleport later, standing on top of a parking garage in Downtown Tokyo, Haruka was picking her jaw up off the floor as an MH-67 Pave Mare had its ECS dropped remotely directly in front of her. The only male in the group of four smirked at her, "So, ready to land an invisible chopper on an invisible submarine?"

His only response was a wordless nod.

* * *

In another part of Tokyo, a man was sitting at the head of a table. This would not have been noteworthy if not for the fact that everyone else around the table had two things in common. One, they were holograms. Two, they were all on Interpol's most wanted list.

As his meeting came to a close, the holograms disappeared, and he stood up and began to walk out. Another man with some rather out of place tattoos peeking out from the sleeves of his lab coat met him in the hall and handed him a report.

Demonic energy had been detected, Designation: Youkai. It was weaker, so it was probably young. A very feral smile graced the first man's features. Demons would fetch a very nice price on the black market. They were classified as endangered and protected by various world governments. Specifically the ones that _weren't_ currently trying to eradicate them.

A young demon would be a status symbol, sold to a private collector as a pet, possibly as a… companion, or even more commonly as a trophy, provided you could find a taxidermist who wouldn't charge you through the nose. Actually, he might even be able to sell it to the Americans, or even the Germans or Russians, as a test subject for their endless military-driven experiments. Maybe he should just skip all the price haggling and let them drive each other's offers up… first things first though.

"Tell our boys that the ones who bring it in get a share of the take; that should skip mistakes. Send out our gangs and bring me that demon."

The message was sent throughout the ranks of a young Yakuza that was no longer playing by the rules.

The second apocalypse had been triggered.

* * *

**A/N: And I'm back again. Just in case anybody's wondering about the change in the summary, the original one was just something I'd slapped together for the sake of having one, and I'd been planning on (Read: putting off) replacing it for a while. I finally had it pointed out to me rather bluntly that the original summary wasn't descriptive at all and was probably at least partially behind the apparent lack of interest in this story (I don't think I ever cleared 50 visitors in one day), and even I have to admit that it was a whole lot of words saying a whole lot of nothing.**

**In reference to the actual story, I've finally got some of the balls rolling on the plot, three guesses as to how many apocalypses there are going to be... forewarning you, their numbering is based on the order they're triggered in (events and circumstances lock them into happening), not the order they happen in. Just in case I have some overlap.**

**Ryoga's mini-arc picking up strays is almost over, just one or two more chapters to go and then I'll let him out of the interdimensional void. After that I'm probably going to form them into a loose group, although I'm still on the fence about having them join in Ryoga's endless world tour... We'll just have to see where that goes.**

**Anybody who's wondering about Cologne's using the Breaking Point, she is quite obviously capable of using it, even if she doesn't usually. And everyone who read the first version of this**** (which I changed for obvious reasons)** knows that I actually accidentally wrote Ryoga into that scene and I didn't want to completely rewrite it, so since Cologne wasn't doing anything at the time...

**To anyone who's still reading at this point, thank you for sticking with this story so far. My muses use you as their weapon of choice when clocking me over the head and dragging me through this story.**

**Thanks for reading,**

**NPP6**


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